Knuxadow High School
by Sonicfreak68
Summary: Knuckles is your average high school student. That is, up until he meets Shadow. Now he's fallen hard for him. But he soon discovers Shadow's true identity. Will he continue to be by Shadow's side, or run like a coward? Find out. T to eventual M!
1. First Day at High School

Knuxadow High School Part 1

**First Day**

It was the first day of High School when Knuckles woke with a surprise by his alarm clock. "I'm up, I'm up! Shoot I'm gonna be late for the first day of high-WOAH!!!" The red red-haired idiot tumbled to the floor,"Ow, that hurt!" Knuckles got dressed and headed downstairs."OK, what's for breakfast? Uh, I think I'll just take some grapes and apple juice again." He grabbed his breakfast and ran out the door.

**At the Ark (Shadow's Place)**  
_BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!BEEP!BEE-bang! _"What now?" he groaned as he slammed the snooze button and forced himself out of bed. He looked down at Earth from his silent and dark corridor,"I remember now..today was the first day of High School." He sighed started to put his clothes on. He grabbed his shoes and pushed the button on the wall to leave his room. Shadow grabbed his stuff and chaos emerald and chaos controlled down to Earth.  
Shadow warped to the sidewalk next to the school sign which said, "Willow Wood High School" Below it said, "Welcome All New Students To a Fun Year of High School!" 'Humph, yeah right like this will be fun I don't even see why I even came today', the ebony haired human-hog thought walking up the sidewalk to the entrance of school.

"Whew,whew,whew,whew,whew gotta..get..to..school..before the..bells ring!" he said trying to catch his breath from running. Knuckles walked into the cafeteria and sat right next to Shadow(who looked mad for some odd reason)"Soniiiiccc!What's Up man? How have you been?" Knuckles asks as he sits down."I'm doin' pretty good right now, how about you?"  
"I'm good, just chillin' at home, you know, the usual!" Just then the intercom announced, "All students in Mrs. Blowfish's Class are:

1. Amy  
2. Shadow  
3. Sonic  
4. Sonia  
5. Manic  
6. Silver  
7. Miles  
8. Knuckles  
9. Vector  
10. Espio  
11. Rouge  
12. Jet  
13. Wave  
14. Storm  
15. Blaze

"Please walk to your classes!!" They all walked to class in a line and sat quickly. Shadow sat in the way back because he didn't feel like being bothered at the time. "Alright, class time to introduce yourselves tell us you name, age, and things that make you unique. "First up AMY!" Amy walked up with an excited expression on her face. "My name is Amy Rose, I am 16 years old, and I have a Piko Piko Hammer that I defend myself with." She did a curtsy and walked back to her desk. "Sonic, you're up!" Sonic walked up and said," I'm Sonic, I'm 17, and I can run really, really, really fast." He grinned and the teacher called out,"Shadow." Shadow sighed and walked up there. He could here snickers coming from the class as he walked up there. "My name is Shadow, I'm 17 years old, and I can eat one thing and live for more than a month," He said in one little mumble of a sentence. "Next up is Knuckles," Knuckles walked up there, "My name is Knuckles, just call me Knux, I'm 16 years old and I have knuckles on my hand, they aren't fake, soo I will have to knock you out, if you mess with me." Mrs. Blowfish called the rest of the students and they went up to introduce themselves. After classes were over, people started to go to lunch. Shadow walked towards the table when he heard someone call his name, "Hey! Shadow, right?" Knuckles asked "Yeah, what do you want?" Shadow said in an exasperated tone. "I was wondering if my friends and I could sit here for lunch?" he asked as the ebony haired teenager rolled his eyes and said yes. After lunch was P.E. they all played kickball. The score was 12-25, Shadow was on Knux's team and he kicked really far past the swings (which was really, really far) Sonic was also on that team, too. Everyone on Knux's team always kicks ass. Back inside, Shadow needed to go to the bathroom to get outta class and asked to go, he noticed Knux was walking out of the bathroom when he went in. Shadow noticed a note on the floor. It said,

*Dear Shadow,

At the end of school come to the swings on the field, please come alone. I need to ask you something.*

Sincerely,  
Knux

After School  
Shadow headed to the swings he noticed Knuckles on them swinging. Shadow hid behind a tree, but apparently Knux could hear and smell him. "I know you're there,Shadow" Shadow showed himself and didn't to much like it. "Uh, Shadow..do you..er..let me just spit it out! Do you like men?" he asked while blushing. "That's nonna your business!!"I don't come up in your life and ask you stupid questions like that, so you don't come up in mine,ya GOT THAT!?" Shadow angrily said to Knuckles. Knuckles backed away in anger, turned his head, ran away with tears in his eyes. A note fell out of Knuckles' pocket, which Shadow obviously heard and saw, so he picked it up and headed home...

To Be Continued ...


	2. The Battle of Future Rivals

Knuxadow High School Part 2 

*It's been about a week since school started and since the incident between me and Knuckles. I feel pretty bad for the guy, the way I screamed at him. But why would he ask me if I was gay? I don't know, who cares anyway, I'll just write a letter to him,or something.* 

**At School...**

Shadow walked into the class and glanced around to see if anyone was looking. He slipped his note carefully into Knuckles' desk and sat down. As he sat, Knuckles came in with Rouge chuckling like she had just made him laugh. They sat down in their seats and started talking. Shadow looked at Knuckles and waited, until he finally reached in his desk and grabbed the note. "Hm? What's this?" he said as he opened it.  
"_B_", the looks on his face that understood and turned to look at Shadow, who obviously had his head on the desk. Well, ok then Knuckles thought. After lunch, it was social hour,or at least everybody thought it was walking out of the cafeteria when Knuckles grabbed him to the side. "You're the one who wrote that note,didn't you?" Knuckles whispered."Yeah,now let go of me!" Shadow struggled. "Come with me!" Knuckles said as he pulled Shadow into the cafeteria,past the tables, and through the restricted they arrived at a shed in the back of the school. "Here we are.", Knuckles said as they walked in. Shadow looked around and saw Knuckles typing on a pad in the wall. "Let me guess,you are typing in a password and then the wall opens to a capsule that leads underground?" The ebony haired teen asked. "How'd you know?"The red haired teen replied. "I can see the capsule through the wall. It's barely invisible!" The capsule opened and they both stepped inside. It lowered until they got all the way to the bottom. Music was playing, and Sonic sitting on the couch watching TV while Rouge was popping popcorn. "Sonic! What's up dude?" Knuckles walked over to him and did their little handshake. "Hey Knux.",Rouge said with popcorn in her hand. "Hey babe!" Knuckles said giving her a kiss. "Who's that?" she asked. "Oh, guys meet Shadow, he's a bisexual..." Knux announced "What the hell does that have to do with anything?." Shadow demanded. "Uh-oh " Sonic said. "Um, Sonic and I made a bet that if you were bisexual then he'd owe me 20 bucks. Where's my money, Sonic? Oh, by the way, Shadow-Sonic, Sonic-Shadow." They both greeted each other. "Oh, hey Amy!" Knuckles said waving. "Hey Knux!" she gave him a hug. "Okay, well we better get going if we don't wanna be late." Sonic suggested. "Agreed." Shadow said ready to scidattle outta there. Sonic showed Shadow the capsule he could use. "Just press the but-" "I know what to do" Shadow said as they stepped inside their capsules and headed straight up. "Jeez, attitude problem. Just trying to help." When they got out of their capsules they headed to Gym class. Roll call took place before exercise. The coach wanted to test their skills in dodging and throwing, so a really awesome game of dodge ball took place afterwards. "I have chosen who will be our teams captains. They are Sonic for team blue..." Everyone cheered for Sonic as he was chosen to be Team Blue's Captain. "And our other team captain is Shadow for team black." This time hardly anyone made a peep about Shadow being captain. In fact no one clapped or anything because they were all nervous that he wouldn't be as great as Sonic was. "Now I will call the participants on Sonic's team, they are Jet, Storm,Wave, Silver, and Blaze. The opponents are Amy, Knux, Miles, Rouge, Vector, Espio." said the coach. They all went to the empty blacktop to get ready,for they knew it would be a very long and hard game. Shadow was the only one who didn't need to stretch because he was already flexible enough. "Let's play some tunes!"  
They all listened to it and thought it would be a great dance song. "Woah! Nice Song Vec!" Sonic said. The coach put down the balls on the middle of the concrete so each team wold have to run to grab one. "Alright you know the rules..the game begins NOW!" As soons as he finished his sentence he blew his whistle. Each time ran to the balls,only Shadow was the first to grab one because he was fastest. "Dang, he's faster than me!" Sonic smirked. "Well let's see if he can DODGE! Hyah!" he threw the ball so fast, it made a fast ball look like a little kid threw one of the slowest balls ever. But it was no match for Shadow. Instead of flinching, he caught it with his bare hand and threw it back at Sonic, faster. But this time Sonic didn't catch it. He got hit right in the stomach and plummeted across the street into a house window. "What the-AHHHHHHHHH!" Sonic was getting up with blood trickling down his head and nose. "OH MY GOD, SONIC!?!" Amy screamed and ran over to see Sonic getting up. "Oh so that's how you want it, huh? Well, bring it on!" Immediatly Shadow smirked and Sonic ran with incredible speed. He ran straight toward Shadow when suddenly he disappeared into thin air. Sonic stopped and turned around to see Shadow."Heh heh..Got'cha!" he kicked Sonic in the throat.  
Sonic grabbed his leg and through him up in the air, which was a bad idea."Alright, let's end this!" Shadow gathered all his energy for the final pucnch. Sonic didn't want to waste his energy so he did what he could. He jumped high so he could kick Shadow, but his plan only worked halfway."Sonic, NO!!!" They all screamed. Sonic kicked Shadow about 10 times with super speed. Still, Sonic was no match for Shadow. He grabbed Sonic's leg and spun him around about 30 times before throwing him to the ground. Sonic hit the ground causing Knuckles to have to hold on to to the benches without being thrown from the impact. Sonic was sitting there for about 5 minutes before he got up. His eyes were closed as he rubbed his head and sat he did he gasped at the fact the Shadow,was holding a gun right on his forehead. "MOVE AND I SWEAR I WILL PULL THIS TRIGGER!" Shadow yelled. "SON-" Amy was silenced by Rouge's hand over her mouth... 

TO BE CONTINUED...


	3. InSchool Suspension

Knuxadow High School Part 3

**In-School Suspension**

They all stood their with amazement at Shadow's actions. Amy was now on her knees, begging and crying out to Sonic with a muffled voice from Rouge's hand. "Stop, Amy, or you'll get hurt, too!" Shadow got up with his gun still in his hand and walked off. "Oh, it ain't over yet!" Sonic ran towards Shadow so fast no one could've lived by the impact if he hit Shadow, but again he was no match for him. Shadow turned around quickly and caught Sonic by the throat, "HEY! STOP FIGHTING!!!!" the coach yelled but continued. Shadow squeezed his throat so hard, you could see his canine tooth elongating and his skin starting to glow red. He was furious, he would not lose to this battle and everyone knew that too. Sonic grasped Shadow's hands, trying to unwrap them from his neck. "Y-you...w-win..this time." Sonic said his eyes gently closing and starting to slide out of Shadow's grip. Everyone ran to him without hesitation and starting calling his name to wake him. "I'll go call the an ambulance!" Tails suggested. Shadow walked over and felt Sonic's pulse, "Humph, I intended to kill him, but that was the limit my power for now, you haven't seen half of it. You guys are lucky he is alive." he said getting up and walking off. Amy ran to him beating on his back screaming," You idiot look what you did to my Sonic! YOU ALMOST KILLED HIM!!" She cried. "Your comin' with me, young man!" the coach yelled in his ear. There were camera phones and video cameras everywhere,the coach pulled Shadow by his arm and into the principal's office. "Sir,this student has been very violent in PE class today. He has beaten another student to death and the student is in need of medical assistance. One of the students in the class today has already call the ambulance,which they should be here in a few minutes." the coach said. "Sit please.." Shadow sat down in front of the principal. He looked Shadow in the eyes and started writing on a piece of paper and gave it to Shadow. It was an In-school suspension slip for him. Damn, they really don't believe anything! I just got suspended because of him, Shadow thought. "Now, your going to go down to the hospital and you are going to apologize to this young man and show him this slip to show you are to have in-school suspension for fighting." he said with a stern voice."I don't see why I'm even getting a suspension, I mean it was a fake gun. My real one's at home." he said taking it out and shooting it at the wall. "Well still, bringing such violence into this school isn't tolerated." the principle continued. 

**Hours Later at the Hospital...**

"Uh, is there a Miles Prower here tonight." the nurse asked. "Oh me!" he scurried to the young woman with a worried look on his face. "Sonic is going to be just fine,he just has a few bad bruises and a broken arm. He is healing quickly and his body is responding very well to the medicine we are giving him." she announced to everyone. Amy hugged Rouge with tears in her eyes. "May we see him?" Tails asked. "Oh sure he is in here." she said pointing to the room. They all walked quietly into the room with presents and balloons and Cd's. There he was, Sonic on the bed with his eyes halfway opened "Hey g-guys...how's it going?" Sonic asked still having pains. "Oh, Sonic." Amy walked over and kissed him on the cheek, causing him to blush. "Dude, how you feeling?" Knuckles asked concerned. "I'm fine. Just a broken arm but nothing more than that." he said with a weak voice. "Sorry. If I wouldn't have thrown that ball we wouldn't have fought. The principal gave me an In-school suspension, so you don't have to worry about anything." Shadow said without hesitation. "Dude, no worries. I t was my fault, too, but I'm like that a lot so, it's not fully your fault." Sonic said. "Well, we better get going! See you later, Sonic!" Tails said as he stifled yawn. "Bye." Sonic said. They all walked out to the parking lot to leave. Rouge and Knuckles would be dropping Amy of at her house. Shadow brought his motorcycle with him so he could at least look casual. He told everyone he would get going. "Bye,guys. I'll see you tomorrow." Shadow said while revving up his bike. He sped off looking back at everyone as he turned down the corner. "We have to follow him." Rouge said as Knuckles agreed. "Why?" Amy asked curiously. "Something is telling me to follow him. I don't know why,though." Rouge answered. They hopped in the car and drove out of the parking lot and followed Shadow's trails. They saw him just 2 cars ahead before he turned down a dark alley. "Damn! My car can't fit through the alley!" Knuckles cried. "Just turn down this road and park there. We can run to the alley." Rouge said to Knuckles. So he turned down the street and parked. They ran to the alley where Shadow was at. They couldn't believe their eyes,Shadow, who had his back turned,was turning into Super Shadow."Sh-Shadow?" Knuckles asked. Shadow turned around to see them standing there looking at him. He swung his left arm around and said, "You never saw anything." He flew off leaving them in total darkness except for the street lights. Rouge looked at Knuckles staring up at the sky. "Knux, what's wrong..and why are we standing in an alley?" she lied. Rouge knew perfectly what was going on, but she didn't want to let it slip right now. "I have no earthly idea." he replied. They walked back to the car and got in. Knuckles started the car and sped off into the streets. 

Shadow landed on a rooftop of an old building. He sat on the edge looking off of it. He got up an pulled his Chaos Emerald from his pocket. "CHAOS CONTROL!" he yelled as he headed back to the ARK.

TO BE CONTINUED


	4. InSchool Suspension Continued

Knuxadow High School Part 4

**In-School Suspension Skipped**

It was a beautiful Friday morning when Knuckles awoke to the sunlight shining in his face. He yawned and stretched before getting up,then walked to the bathroom. He rubbed his face as a sign that he was still tired and did not feel like getting up. But he did anyway,he turned the shower on and hopped in. Later he got out and went into the kitchen. He grabbed some milk and poured it in a cup. "Mm...ah." He said, putting it down and looking at the TV. He was waiting for the weather to see what it would be like, but he already knew it would be a sunny day. He went to get dressed and brush his teeth. He grabbed his backpack and lunch and headed out the door of his house. He went to the bus stop to wait but he decided not to ride the bus and instead he got in his car, turned it on, and drove out of his driveway to school.  
"Newspapers! School Newspapers! Ova' here! Get'cha free newspapers!" A student who normally sold newspapers. Knuckles bought one and looked at it. "There's nothin' much..who cares." he said walking away. When he got to class he was surprised to see Sonic sitting at his desk with a cast on his arm. He just stared at him until he heard a low growl behind him. Knuckles turned around and saw Shadow staring straight at him."Well you gonna go in?" Shadow asked, impatiently. Knuckles scurried to his desk while Shadow followed behind. "Alright Class! Today's lesson is,"Anatomy of th-"

There was a knock at the door, the teacher walked over to open the door. When he opened it, 2 teenagers walked in. One of them gave a note to him. He started to read then announced, "Class, we have 2 new students." he announced. "Ahem, Ahem, hem, herm, she's, ahem, hot.." Sonic stared as a lovely young teenager walked in. She had cloudy gray eyes with long, curly, black hair with red streaks. "What are you doing here?" Shadow burst. "Wait, you 3 know each other?" Amy asked "Yeah, Shade and Sky are my little baby sibbies.."

"Your what?" Jet asked from across the room. The boy looked at him. He didn't have long, curly black hair, but, instead, he had blond color hair. The boy had adorable little blue eyes, with a black shirt,unbuttoned at the top with his collar neatly done,and a pair of blue jeans. They both resembled Shadow in different ways. "Shade and Sky would you like to tell the class about yourselves?" Blowfish asked. "Well,I can read people thoughts and I know what they are dreaming about." Sky said looking directly at Knuckles. Before he knew it, everyone was looking at him, causing him to blush. "And I can see the past and future. I know all about every single one of you." Shade said, again looking at Knuckles and Shadow. "Uh-oh, they bout' to get it on!" Sonic joked. "You can say that again!" Shade joked along with Sonic. "Shut up, just shut up, Sonic!" Knux yelled while getting up and throwing a book at him. "KNUCKLES AND SHADOW SITTING IN A TREE!" Sonic pointed at everyone to continue. "K-I-S-S-I-N-G!!! Hahaha!!!" They all laughed. "I am soooo gonna kill you later!" Shadow and Knuckles said together. Everyone again laughed. "Oh yeah if you can catch me!! Hey, Shadow I heard your energy got drained the other day! I was wondering' if it were true! Cause', I mean, as if you didn't look half dead already!!! HAHAHAHA!!!!" Sonic cried. It was true, whenever Shadow was overdue for eating, his skin would get paler, loss of eye color, and he'd have BAD ATTITUDE. Or, sometimes if he got really mad that he was going to lose it, his eyes would turn red and pupils blue. "SHUT UP!!!!" Shadow barked. "Everyone, please, lower your voices, other classes are in session!" Porcupine commanded. "Uh, Shadow?" Sky said. "What?" he snapped, causing his younger brother to flinch. "Your eye-color.." he continued. Shadow was about to yell, but stopped as he understood exactly what he meant and ran out of the class. "Excuse me, go to go for a while!" He ran. "Now that was just...weird." Rouge stated...Although she knew what was going on...

School Bell Rings

The doors opened to towards the entrance of the building. Teenagers walked out in large numbers. One group was big,one was small. Shadow was sitting and the steps in front of the entrance, texting. "Man, I swear, that Shadow guy is just..." Rouge lied."Weird, freaky, annoying?" Shadow finished for her. Shadow hated Rouge and so did she. "No, no, no, no, no..we were going to say awesome and cool and...awesome!" Sonic stepped in while picturing Shadow ripping his guts out of his stomach or, maybe he would break his arm..again. Then Sky and Shade showed up, waiting."You coming with me?" Shadow asked them. They both nodded and followed their older brother to his car. "Bye, guys. See you tomorrow!" Sky waved and walked off. "I wish Shadow could be more like his 'baby sibbies'. They're more fun!" Everyone agreed except for Knuckles of course. "I don't. I think he's cool just the way he is." he added and blushed. "Yeah, cause' you like em'!" Sonic pointed out a fact. "No I don't!" Knuckles argued, knowing it was the truth. "Yeah right! Don't think I don't see you blushing' and making' googly eyes with him like every DAMN DAY!" Sonic yelled. "Yeah...so what! You know damn well he doesn't like me!" Knuckles said "Who knows if he does or not. Ask Shade or Sky! Anyways let's get outta here, I'm tired." Sonic concluded the argument, and they all agreed and started to walk away... 

TBC...


	5. Shopping Spree Gone Wrong!

Knuxadow High School Part 5

**Amy's PoV**

I yawn and scratch my head and hear my stomach growl for some food. Normally on Saturday's I would go straight to the kitchen,but today was different. Today I went to take a shower first. I turn on some music and begin to turn the shower on. "I dreamed I was missing,you were so scared,no one would listen, 'cause no one else cared.." I started to sing along. I began bathing and singing in the shower until I was finished. I threw on some clothes and headed downstairs. 'Definitely gonna' have to clean up today!' I thought walking into the kitchen. I set out the toaster, some eggs, pancake mix, and butter as the ingredients. Tied my pink hair back and got cooking. Minutes later the toast popped outta' the toaster, eggs were scrambled, pancakes were waiting to be flipped,and butter ready to go! As soon as I flipped the pancake, I heard little footsteps coming from the stairs. "Good Morning, Cream." I say. "Wanna go to the beach later on?" I asked flipping the pancake once again. She responded with a little smile and a yawn which probably meant yes. "You hungry?" I asked her. "Yes...I heard you singing in the shower and that's what woke me up." she smiled. I blushed as she giggled at me. "Go sit at the table and I'll bring you your food." I told her. She listened and walked to the table and sat down. I set out the plates and placed food on them. I walked over to the table with Cream's food and sat it in front of her. She put some syrup on her pancakes and began to eat. I wandered into the kitchen once again and grabbed my plate. As I sat down, I heard a knock on the door. I walked to the door and looked through the peephole. To my surprise, it was Sonic! Quickly, I opened the door and give him a big hug. "Hey Ames." he said. "Hey Sonic!" I blushed. "You, um..heh..wanna go to the mall with me?" he blushed back at her. "Okay! Lemme' go put some clothes on..c'mon Cream!" I shouted as I raced up the steps. Cream finished her food and scrambled out of her seat. "You can sit on the couch,if you'd like" she smiled and took off up the staircase. Sonic shook his head,"Girls these days" he said as he sat down. I grabbed my cutest outfit and helped Cream put on her outfit. We ran downstairs and saw Sonic waiting on the couch. He turned around and gasped at my body."Whoa..you look...cute. Heh-heh" he blushed. "Thank you" I replied. We walked out of the door and went to Sonic's car. He put the keys in the ignition and the car rumbled. He turned the radio on and put a CD in. The music started playing when I realized that it was one of MY Cd's! "Oh my goodness, how'd you get my CD!" I asked him. "Well, when you were upstairs getting dressed I snuck out a CD from your entertainment center and took it with me." he grinned whiled turning it up. I just stared at him. "You little..ugh!" I shouted through the wind. "Coming up on Ames Blvd,there is a slight 10-minute slow-down,but nothing to massive." exclaimed the traffic reporter. We headed towards Ames Blvd and got off at the exit. "So...how's everything going, Ames?" Sonic asked. Well,that was a weird question to ask at the moment,but I'm pretty good,you?" I replied with a question. "Good, just been cleaning 'round the house, thought'd I'd stop by and see you!" Sonic answered. We arrived finally at the mall and parked the car. Sonic got out first and opened our doors."Thank you." I tell him. We walked to the entrance and walked in. The music played as my heels padded the ground. 'Wow,this place has changed...' "Amy,can we go to the 'Clothes 4 Kids' section,later?" Cream asks me. "Yeah,sure" I said staring at a board that said BIRTHDAY. 'Oh shoot! I almost forgot Sonic's birthday is next week!I haven't even bought a birthday present!I'm so STUPID!I gatta hurry.' I think. "Amy? You okay? Am-" Sonic was cut off "Oh sorry, I was in deep thought, Haha" I assured him."Okay,what store do you want to go in first?" he asked. "Um... how about the swimsuit store?" I asked. "Okay." he shrugged. We walked in and started to shop. I started to pick out swimsuits when I found the perfect one! It was pink with white polka dots,and I found another one! This one was almost the exact same except it had white stripes. I walked over to the fitting room and closed its door. I tried on the polka dot one first and walked out to show Sonic and Cream. Cream and Cheese thought it was beautiful while Sonic just stood there with his mouth wide open. "Well..you gonna say something?" I asked the stiff being in front of me. "Whoa...Whoa...Wow.." he was completely speechless. "Why don't we get something to eat,I didn't get to eat anything this morning." I ask. "Yeah,okay" he replies. I go back into the fitting room and put my clothes back on. I came out and started to walk to the food court,when I heard a shrill scream. "What happened?!" I ask running toward the voice. I was surprised to see Cream sitting on the floor with tears in her eyes. "What's wrong, Cream? Where's Cheese?" I wonder. "That's the problem,she's gone! I was walking out of the store, when all of a sudden, this big robot-man thing just pushed me down and took Cheese!" she was now crying again. "Well you know what,Cream..we're gonna hunt him down and show him no mercy, no remorse!" Sonic jumped into the conversation. Wow, Sonic that was so frickin' random, like the kid will believe THAT! "We will?!" she stopped crying and wiped the tears off of her cheeks. I stand defeated. I grabbed my purse and followed them outta the store. We ran until we bumped into a few familiar faces.  
"Shadow? Shade? Sky? Who's that?" I asked. "Hey.." they all said together, except for the young child standing behind Shadow. "Uh, what a coincidence!" Shade interrupted the long stare between the group. "Yeah, what a...coincidence.." Sonic agreed. "Dad, we gatta, remember I have to be at practice!" the child said. "Hush,boy!" Shadow whispered. "But, Da-" he tried to continue but was interrupted by the teenagers glaring at him."But, Da-" he tried to continue but was interrupted by the teenagers glaring at him. "Yes, Dad...sorry for being impatient." he lowered his head.  
"Well, um now that we ran into you,do you think you could help us find Cream's little Chao, Cheese?" Amy asked kindly. "Yeah, he's about yeigh big, pretty wide, and he's blue." Sonic added. "Sure thing!" Sky said. "Hey, Cream, do you have something that could give off a scent?" Shade asked. "Um, as a matter of fact, I do! I still have its little toy! It's right here!" She gave it to him and smiled. "Richi, you hear anything?" Shadow asked. "No, dad." he answered. "DAD?!!!?" Sonic, Cream, and I all yelled. "Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, wait, wait, wait one minute! You mean to tell me that you had a CHILD at a young age!?" Sonic went nuts. "Um, that's pretty hard to explain... especially at a time like this.." Shadow blushed. That was one of the first times Shadow actually bushed since his beloved Maria's death. "He looks familiar... like Rouge." Sonic rubbed his chin. "Yeah, who is his mom, Shadow?" I asked him. "Um, can we PLEASE find Cheese, NOW?" Cream was getting a little impatient. "Yeah, let's skidattle outta here!" Sky managed to change the subject. "I can smell it."  
Shadow turned and walked away. He felt he could no longer show his face. He covered it and began to walk away. His was down the whole time and he began to follow behind when he was the one who was needed in the front. "Dad, you okay?" the boy slowed down to walk with his father. "Yeah, I'm good.." he was silent as he walked. "I'll tell you when we get home, Okay?" he replied. "Okay," the 11 year old replied back. Shadow stopped dead in his tracks and sniffed the air. "Oh my God! What is that smell?!" he held his nose. "What's it smell like, bro?" Sky asked. Normally, I would take action and be the first one to do something, but today, I'm quiet...Wow, I really didn't realize that until now. "Ames..you alright? You've been zoning out lately.." Sonic stated a fact. "Oh! I'm fine! Don't worry about me!" I reassured him. He just looked at me with that face. That face...it just... catches me off guard... completely! "It's this way! C'mon!" Richi ran. They ran and ran and ran. It felt like hours of running! Richi stopped and gasped. There on the cold, hard, wet ground was the blue Chao. "What is that thing?!" Richi flinched. It lay there and bleed slightly. "CHEESE?!?" Cream cried. She ran over and picked up the little blue friend slightly. I could literally feel tears well up in my eyes as Cream sobbed over her little friend. "What will I do? No! No! No! No! No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, NO!!!!! You can't leave me here alone, Cheese!!!" She cried and sobbed and shook her head side to side.

Sky nudged Shade and whispered, "_Dramatic!"_

"Ya' know, Cream...I never really told any one this, but...I can fix your Cheese, if you'd like." Richi offered. "You'd do that.. for me?" Cream turned and walked to him. "Yes, Cream." he looked into Cream's beautiful creamy orbs. She looked into his crystal blue eyes. They stared at each other for like 2 minutes before anything happened. She got closer an closer until they were touching. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you SO MUCH!!!!" She screamed and ran in a circle. Cream gave him a big hug and and little kiss on the lips. But, she didn't know where she was aiming on his face so she just went with the lips, which I though was so cute!

"Oh, shit! You gatta be at practice in like 2 minutes! C'mon, let's go! Sorry guys!" Shadow looked at his phone.

"Wait! Shadow! Uh, Knuckles is having a little get-together at his house and wanted to know if you want to come!" Sonic told him.

"Okay,what time? I need his address and what should I wear?" he replied. "

Here's my number, his number, here's Knux's address, and wear anything." he told him.

"Okay, hey, listen, is Rouge gonna be there?" Shadow asked curiously.

"No, she said she was busy."

"Okay, I'll be there!" he told him while catching up to his family. "Sonic,Cream,and I ran the opposite way. "Good decision,Sonny! It'll be great for the 2 to get to know each other." I said to him. "After all,Knux does like Shadow. But he said that Shadow was just "cute!",yeah right!, he knows he likes him! I can imagine them together talking now." Sonic said. "Yeah. They seem like they have a lot in common! Like... they're both quite,live alone,sorta,they'd be a good couple!" I told him. We kept running to the car and finally Sonic said, "Race ya'!" And he sped off... 

To Be Continued...


	6. Knucklehead's Party

Knuxadow High School Part 6

**Knucklehead's Party**

"SHADOW!!!" she called to her brother through the kitchen."What?!" he hollered back through the hallway. "C'mon, Sky!" Shadow hollered at his younger brother. "I'm coming,I'm coming." the younger brother spoke calmly. They all headed to the garage of Shade's humongous mansion. "Which car? Mine? Yours? Or Shadow's?" Sky asked. Shade shrugged and looked at Shadow. "Shadow.." Shade and Sky agreed. "Why mine?" Shadow asked them. "Because... your car is the newest and the coolest car out of them all. Plus, it has "BADAZZ" on the licenses plate, which I think is awesome!" she told him. "What the hell does that have to do with anything?" "Showoff. Fine. Whatever." the oldest one agreed as his younger siblings high-fived each other. They got in the car and closed the doors. Shadow started it and the engine roared. The music started playing and Shade turned it up. "Yeah, this is the shit right here!" said Shade exclaimed. Shadow pressed a button and suddenly the car roof folded back, turning the car into a convertible. The wind blew through Shadow's hair as he drove on the highway. "And that was _TiK ToK_ by Ke$ha, coming up next is _I Can Transform Ya_ by Chris Brown!" the host exclaimed through the radio. "Hey, Shade, you do know that we're going to an all guys "party",right?" "Yeah, I know. But, I'm not going to Knuckles' house. I have a friend who lives down the street from him. She's having a friend's birthday at her house." she explained. The got off at the 3rd exit and passed up 4 lights. "Left. Go left, again. Turn right and then the 8th house on the block." Shade told them. When they came close, they saw a bunch of cars parked in Knux's driveway. "Wow! That really does look like a little get-together, compared to the parties we go to." Shadow pulled up and parked on the curb. When they got out, they could hear music and screaming and shouting from the back of the small house. The siblings walked until they could see the entrance of the house, where they found a very unexpected person...Amy. "Hey, Ames!" "Oh, hey Shade! Long time no see!" the pink haired teenager ran and gave her a hug."Yeah, I guess, if you call 24 hours a long time!" she joked with her friend. "C'mon the party just got started!" she ran back through the door. They followed her and quietly entered the house. Shade walked up the steps while her heels clapped as it hit the wood. They walked in and looked around. "Shadow! You're finally here!" a voice came from behind. He turned around and saw that it was Sonic. Unfortunately, a certain red-head named Knuckles heard the name Shadow and knew exactly who Sonic was talking about. "Sh-Shadow...no..it can't be him..why is he her-" he answered his own question by saying," Sonic! C'mon here for a second!" he called to the blue haired human-hog. "Uh-oh..I'm toast!" Sonic said. "Coming Knuckles!" Sonic ran up the stairs leaving the siblings in a trance. "Yeah?" Sonic said walking up the steps to Knuckles' room. "Are you CRAZY!?" he shouted. "Why would you invite him here without my permission?!" It's not like Knuckles didn't like Shadow, which he does, it's just he can't be around him without saying or doing something stupid. "Well, don't you like Shadow?" "No! I don't like him, I just think he's cute! Why do you have to go on and think that I like him? When a person says they think someone is cute or nice or something, that DOES NOT mean they like that person!" he was blushing when he said this. "Okay, okay, okay! I get it. I get that you LIKE him!" he said. "Oh just shut up! C'mon!" he said walking down the steps. His heart starting racing as he started walking. 'Shit! What am I gonna say?' he said. He came downstairs and saw Shade. "Hey, Shade!" he hugged her and she replied," Hey, Knux! Long time no see! What's been happening?" she asked. "Nothing, really." he answered the teenager. "Wanna play Rock Band?" she asked. "Sure!" he told her. He walked into the living room to see Shadow playing Rock Band with his brother and Sonic and Amy. Amy was singing. Sonic was on the bass. Sky was on drum. And finally, Shadow. Shadow was rockin' the guitar. He got every single one right. Knuckles blushed, again. "Okay! Who's next?" Sky asked. "Me, me, me, me, me!" Shade ran and took the microphone from Amy. "Damn, Shade! You must love Rock Band!" "Yeah, she does!" Shadow said. The siblings picked the song and waited for it to load. The song started and Shade started singing, "Now I will you what I've done for you, 50,000 tears I've cried. Screaming, deceiving, and bleeding for you, and you still won't hear me! (Going Under!!)" she sang in low pitch. "Don't want your hand this time I'll save myself! Maybe I'll wake up for once!" the three sang. The people sitting around them were completely amazed at Shade's beautiful singing. Knuckles was completely awestruck at Shadow. "Sonic,go and get my camera!" Knuckles whispered. "Not tormented daily defeated by you, just when I thought I'd reach the bottom! I'm dying again, I'm going under!!" she sang. The people outside heard her and ran in to see what was happening. "Who's that chick?" the girl sitting by Amy asked. "That's my friend, Shade" she replied. Sonic bobbed his headed and opened his eyes to see Knuckles glaring at Shadow. "Shade is so pretty.." Amy said. Shade sang the rest of the song and the Shadow's part came. He played the guitar like a pro, which was really weird. The song ended and Shade turned around to face the crowd. She grabbed her brothers and gave them a big hug of love. They hugged her back and took a bow.

4 hours later...  
"Bye guys! See you on Monday!" Sonic said walking Amy to his blue Ferrari. "Bye Amy! See you at school!" Shade waved as Amy got in the car. "Damn you, Shadow!" Knuckles said as he tried to beat Shadow on his new game Chaos X. "How are you so good at Chaos X?!" "I don't know...guess I was born with the talent to play video games.." he said. Knuckles looked at Shadow as Shadow looked at Knuckles. He quickly turned his head and blushed. "Oh Crap! I forgot about Richi! I'm gonna go pick him up. You stay here, Shadow!" Shade walked and grabbed the keys from her brother. "Hell no! I am not staying here with Knuckles!" he told her. "What better way to get to know Knuckles then to sit and talk to him. Besides, we all know what will happen between you and him." she whispered and smirked. "Bow go over there and sit down and talk to him or I'll kick you ass right in front of him!" she whispered. "Yeah yeah, whatever!" Shadow walked over and sat down beside Knuckles. Shade and Sky walked out and started the car, then sped off. Shadow put his arm around the back off the couch. Shadow flipped on the TV and started to watching. Knuckles looked looked at the clock and yawned. "Damn, it's 11:30 already." he said quietly. He decided to lay his his head on Shadow's lap. "You mind?" Knuckles asked quietly. "Naw.." Shadow replied. He turned his head to face Shadow and realized that Shadow was caressing his face, while looking at him. Knuckles gave him a faint smile and Shadow did the same. "Let's play a game. I'll ask you a question and you HAVE TO answer.." Shadow told Knuckles. "Okay, ask me a question.." Knuckles replied. "Do you like Rouge?" he asked. "Yeah, I guess, she's starting to get on my last nerve." he replied. "So, the answer is..no?" Shadow asked. "Yes," Knuckles said. "Okay, who's your favorite teacher?" "Don't have one," "Last one..do you, Knuckles... like me?" Knuckles was completely stiff. "I...I..-" "It's okay, if you say yes, you know.." Shadow told him. "I...I do...have a little..crush on..you..Shadow." Knuckles blushed. Shadow just chuckled and bent down. His face was really close to Knuckles' face causing him to blush until his whole face was red. Shadow sat Knuckles upright and then laid him back to get on top of him. His face was so close that their noses were touching. Shadow got closer and closer. "The truth is..I kinda like you, too, Knuckles." he said. And that was that. Knuckles admitted that he liked Shadow and Shadow did the same.....

To Be Continued...


	7. Confessions

Knuxadow High School Part 7 

**Confessions**

Never. Never again will he forget that moment that they shared. It was one of the best moments of his life...so far. Knuckles didn't know what was coming his way nor did he know who it involved and how dangerous his life was about to become. "Shadow..." he was gripping a blanket as he was awoken by his face hitting the new shiny hardwood floor. (Ouch!) He opened his eyes as there was a knock at his front door. He woke up completely and scrambled to get some clothes on. There was another knock at the door. Was is Shadow? And another knock came. "I'm coming!" he scrambled out of his room and into the hallway. "Hm..guess he's not home.." he said walking down the steps of Knux's porch. His ebony hair was flowing in the wind as Knuckles ran down the steps to open the door. He opened the door but nobody was there. "Shadow?" Knuckles smiled and called as he ran down the porch steps and looked left and right. But when he didn't see anyone his smile slowly faded away. This was one of his first chances to actually see Shadow and talk to him. He lowered his head and balled his fists. He turned around and walked back to his home with dread. "Do it.." she whispered to the other as he kept refusing. "Okay, fine!" he got out of the bush and quietly followed. He got really close to Knuckles, close enough to smell him. 'He smells like a bunch of flowers!' the one following thought. All of a sudden he heard sniffles. Knuckles was...crying? _Why am I crying? I'm okay, just move on Knuckles..you're okay without them, you can make it,_ Knuckles thought. Yeah, he teared up for a moment. He cried because he really wanted to see Shadow. He missed them. He'd throw everything away just to be with them because he felt he was one of them. He felt accepted. As he about to walk up the porch steps Knuckles all of a sudden tripped on a rock. Knuckles gasped out as the ebony haired follower was walking behind him when he saw what was about to happen. He quickly grabbed Knuckles by the and pulled him as hard as he could. Knuckles looked around to Shadow keeping him up. He looked down and blushed so much that his whole head was red. They were _holding hands. _His tearful face suddenly changed into a happy mode. But he couldn't let Shadow see him like that. He turned around and quickly wiped the tears away. "You okay?" Shadow asked with care. "Yeah, I'm fine" he answered. "SURPRISE!!!" Shade, Sky, and Richi popped out of nowhere and ruined the moment a little bit. "Oh, looks like we ruined the moment a little..Heh heh" Richi said. Shadow looked at them. "Well, you gonna help him up?" Sky looked at him. Before Shadow could reach for Knuckles' hand, Richi zoomed over with his new speed shoes. "Hey, no fair! You little cheat, you got those damn shoes on again!" Shadow played with his son while running around. "Hey Shade, who's your friend?" Knuckles whispered to her curiously. "My nephew, Richi. His full name is Richard Thomas Demetri III, but we like to call his by his other names." "What are his other names?" he asked with interest. "Um, well,I call him Richi, Rich, Jr., even though his father doesn't have the same name as he does. Sky calls him Bat Boy, while Shadow just calls him by one of his nicknames." The teenager answered his question while watching the other men play with the pre-teen. "Wait, so if you're Richi's aunt and Sky is Richi's uncle, that must mean that...Shadow is Richi's father? Shadow is a DAD? Who's his mom? He looks familiar!" he started to ask questions and more questions. "Y'all wanna go get something to eat, I'm hungry as hell!" Richi rubbed his stomach. They all shrugged and Knuckles said," Well let me go get in some fresh clothes! I gatta take a shower and all that other crap! Y'all can come in, if you wanna. I doubt you'd want to stay out in the heat." he ran inside and slammed the door behind him. "Uh-oh...I feel "love" in the air!" Richi joked with his family. "Knuckles and Shadow!!!" They all started to play around. "You guys are seriously getting the WRONG impression." he started to follow Knuckles. He walked up the steps and saw Knuckles walk into his room. Knuckles sensed Shadow following him so he quietly walked in the master bedroom and slammed the door like he did when he first walked into the house. But, instead of it shutting, Shadow caught it and walked in his room. "What do you want, Shadow?" Knuckles looked at Shadow deep in the eyes. His indigo eyes couldn't look into Shadow's crimson red eyes because he would've blushed..again. "Nothing, just hanging around.." he looked around while dramatically speaking. "Well can you kinda scoot outta here because I'm about to take a shower." he got up and tried to push Shadow out of his room. "Why should I leave? Besides we're both men..I don't see a problem." He smirked. "Get out!" Knuckles tried to push Shadow out, but Shadow didn't even move an inch. _Damn, he's strong! Let's just see how much he works out.' he thought. Knuckles moved his hands from Shadow's shoulders and down to his stomach. 'Let's see...2, 4, 6...oh shit, he's got an 8-pack! Man, I only have...a 6-pac! Damn it,_ The red-haired boy felt the lumps in Shadow's stomach with envy. Shadow knew what Knuckles was doing and just sat there and smirked. He pretended that Knuckles was actually pushing him towards the hallway to make him feel like he actually did something, but his strength wasn't even close to Shadow's, not yet. _Now, let's see,_ Knuckles tried to move his arms towards the ebony haired boy's arms, but Shadow said something that caught him off guard..completely. "You know I know what you're trying to do..Don't think I'm that weak or ignorant." Shadow smirked as he picked Knuckles up by his waist and threw him on the bed. The indigo eyed boy was frightened a little. "What was I trying to do, then?" Knuckles smirked and sat up while thinking Shadow would get the answer wrong. "You were trying to feel my rock-hard abs. You were trying to see how strong I was because you couldn't push me out of the room." Shadow was already on top of Knuckles. He sat there on top of him and stared deep into his eyes. "Yeah, I admit it...you are pretty packed up! I couldn't help it, I had to see what your body felt like." he admitting turning his head away so Shadow couldn't see his red face. Shadow put his hand on Knux's face and turned it so it would face his. Knuckles was frowning and blushing at the same time. He would not look at Shadow now. "Knux, look at me! You can never look at me because you think I'll just ignore you. I'm not going to ignore you! You say you like me, but you never show it!" Shadow looked at him deep in the eyes. _There it is again. It's that look that he gives me all the damn time! I wish he'd stop with that, _Knuckles thought. "Then how come you always act annoyed? How come you never tell me about your past? You practically know everything about me! Why don't you tell me?" Knuckles urged. "Because..." Shadow closed his eyes. "Because, what?!" "Because your not ready to know yet! It's too soon. Things haven't fallen into their places, yet!" Shadow snapped, causing Knuckles to flinch. Shadow opened his eyes and saw that he'd scared the other boy a little.

"Sorry, but it'll be some time before I can tell you everything. You're not ready."

"How long until I'm ready? I wanna know!" As Knuckles spoke, Shadow quickly got off of his body and scurried downstairs. "Tell me! Shadow! If you don't tell me I'm gonna-" Knuckles was beating on his back when Shadow quickly turned around and placed a finger on his mouth. "Shh. No more." He spoke calmly. "But, Shadow, I-" Shadow glared at him and said again, "No more." Knuckles lowered his gaze and nodded. "Good, boy." There was a bang in the kitchen as all of them scurried to see what happened. "I'm okay! I'm good!" Richi said, cookie crumbs on his lips. "Hey! My cookies! They were my vavorite kind, too!" The gang laughed as Richi burped. "Excuse me. Well, let's go get somethin' to eat, I'm starving!" He said. "But I haven't showered!" Knuckles said. "Don't worry about it, Knux!" they said as they walked out of the room, and to Shadow's Mazerati, telling funny jokes and laughing about Richi eating _all _the cookies...

To Be Continued...


	8. Shadow's Past and Mephiles' Return Part1

Knuxadow High School Part 8

**Shadow's Past and Mephiles the Dark's Return Part 1 - **

It was quiet at Shade's huge mansion until the sun rose and everyone was awake. Shadow was taking a shower and Sky and Richard were cooking while Shade was getting dressed. That was their daily routine. Shadow would wake Shade up, Shade would wake Sky up, Sky would wake Richi up, Richi and Sky would cook breakfast, Shade and Shadow would take a shower and get dressed, and then they would switch. Richi and Sky would go take a shower and Shadow and Shade would finish cooking. They'd all meet in the dining room and eat quickly. Richi would ride the bus home and the siblings would ride to school in one of the 3 cars...

They drove to school and parked the car. They saw Sonic and the crew hanging outside the gate waiting for it to open. "Hey, Sky," Sonic yawned. "Sup' dude," he was exhausted, too. "Oh, nothing..we were just playing a game...wanna play?" he asked while smirking. Shade looked at Shadow and he nodded as if he approved of her playing this "game". "Okay, I'll play!" she waited to see wait they were playing. "Okay, we're playing.._What's the Grossest Thing that Has Ever Happened to You!"_ he said excitedly. "Knuckles, you go first!" "Okay, lemme see the grossest thing that has ever..oh I have one! It was that time we went to the amusement park and someone threw up on me. It was so GROSS!" he said. "Okay, I think I just lost my appetite..I'm going to the bathroom." Shadow walked off at the right timing. "Okay, you can't tell anyone this guys!" Shade said. Rouge was afraid that she would tell the secret that no one was supposed to know about. Unfortunately, Sky told Shade Rouge's thoughts as she was thinking. "Oh that's a good one! Okay, I have mine! A long time ago before your grand parents were even thought of, Shadow was at his house with this girl." Shade explained. Rouge's eyes got bigger as she knew what Shade was going to say. Shade saw her expression and she smirked to show her payback for what she did. "They were really good friends and the girl really liked him." "What's so gross about that?" Sonic asked impatiently waiting for the gross moment to come. "Let me finish, dumb ass!" Shade glared at him. "So they ended up kissing and blah blah blah, he moved her to a more private place, which was his bed, blah, blah...OKAY! HERE IT COMES! The moment you have been waiting for has finally arrived! Okay, so what happened was it was later that night when all was quiet. Me and Sky were quietly sleeping and all of a sudden, I hear moaning. And I'm not talking' about quiet moans, I'm talking' about moans so loud we could hear it through the walls of the room! It was like, Shadow, Shadow, Shadow, Shadow, Shadow, Shadow, Shadow, and a WHOLE bunch of Ah's and screams!" she mimicked. "Oh sweet Jesus! That's gross!" Sonic had goosebumps. Amy was completely grossed out by what Shade was saying to them. "And then this was even grosser, Shadow's bed started moving up and down, back and forth! And it started hitting the wall! You could hear bumps and vibrations and...let me just show you!" Shade smirked and pulled out her camera phone. She searched through her videos and finally found what she was looking for. It started playing and said, "This is so fucking gross, Sky, listen!" the voice sounded like Shade. She got up and moved the phone closer to the wall and put the phone on the wall. They could hear thuds and bumps and vibrations coming from the wall. "Oh..my..God..that is..so...DISGUSTING!!" Sky whispered to his sister. They could hear the girls voice saying, "Oh God, I love you! H-Harder..faster, more!" She yelled. The teenagers could hear Shadow saying, "Oh...looks like somebody wants to play. Who's talkin' now, you dirty bitch!" All of a sudden the bed started going faster and the girl started screaming from the painful pleasure. "Damn, Shaodw. He sure knows how to fuck a girl!" Sonic said. "Okay, Shade! I think they got the point! You can turn it off now!" Rouge was completely disgusted at the noises the SHE made. "Why should I? It was your mistake! You were the one who did it with him! If it weren't for you Shadow wouldn't be so mad all the time! You didn't even want your own flesh in blood, your own child...you BIT-" she was stopped by the eldest brother covering her mouth from saying anything else. She squirmed around and tried to fight Shadow to let her go until he scolded her with his crimson eyes and Shade calmed down and sank to the concrete sidewalk on top of the hill. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the bell rang, and the gates opened. The two brother walked her sister to the classroom and Knuckles walked with them quietly. "What was that about?" Knuckles whispered loud enough for only Shadow to hear. "Nothing, you wouldn't understand.." Shadow replied as he walked. Sonic was just completely grossed out when he said something. "I feel..dirty..ew!" he started to get goosebumps all over. "Let's get inside before we get into trouble.." Amy suggested as she started walking in the school.....

Later that day.....

"Okay, I need a volunteer to help me cut this rat open!" their biology teacher, Mr. Porcupine, said to his students. No one rose their hand, not even the best students. They all thought it was gross, so no one did it. "Alright, fine, if you guys don't want to volunteer I'll choose someone then." Luckily, Shadow and his brother were sitting in the back so its more likely they won't get picked. Shade sat in the front so she'd probably get picked. " Shadow how about you do it." Shadow was to busy focusing on other things, like sleep. He rose his face quickly and shouted, "MARIA!" as if he had had a nightmare, which he had. The class immediately burst out on laughter. "Settle down, settle down, class!" the teacher said as Shadow walked up to the front of the class and sat on the stool in front of everybody. He waited and waited for the teacher to give the instructions. Mr. Porcupine finally told him what to do. Shadow was going to cut open the rat and take out its heart, lungs, and its intestines. "Piece o' cake!" he bragged as he took his finger and pointed his index finger at the middle of the rat. Suddenly his nail elongated into a claw and he quickly slit the rat open without a problem. "I just lost my appetite..that was so gross.." Jet and Storm said. Before Shadow could take out the poor rat's organs the alarm rang and they all looked at the teacher for instructions. "Okay, guys you know what to do.." he said. "Sonic, Knuckles, and Shadow. I'm counting on you!" he said as they ran out of the room. The alarm was for emergencies like Robotnik stealing more equipment from a science lab. The ran past the cafeteria and through the entrance. Shadow pulled out his phone and dialed his son's number. It rang and rang.

Richi's School..  
So, 3.14 x 5 equals-" the teachers was cut off by a phone ringing. Richi looked through his book-bag and grabbed it. He answered it right in the middle of class. "Richard, turn that phone off and bring it to me!" she scolded him. "Sorry, but I have something I have to take care off, it's really important! Please!" he begged. "Okay,but take Eon with you. Eon, make sure you two make it back in one piece." Eon nodded and followed Richi towards the entrance of his school. "Hold on to me tight!" Richi ordered. "Why?" Eon asked. All of a sudden she knew why. Richi's wings had unfolded from his back. "No way!" she said. Richi picked her up and began to fly towards the city...

Uptown...

"Dad!" Richi called as he landed on the ground. "Richi, Eon, go help Knuckles fight off his minions!" he commanded his son to do. Richi followed his dad's orders and went to help Knuckles. "Grrr...CHAOS BLAST!!!" Shadow's skin was a bright red and he released his energy. Monsters flew left and right while some just burst into dust. "Heroes at Willow Wood High School for Super Heroes are here defending our city from the evil clutches of Eggman!" the reporter was speaking. "Wait, wait a minute! I'm getting information saying that it is not Eggman that we're up against. We're up against someone or something even stronger!" She said. "His name is...is...Mephiles!" she said. "Mephiles?!" Sky and Shade said it together. "Doc, you gatta let us all go! With just those 5 there, they could get killed!" Sky convinced him. "Okay, class is dismissed for the day! Go to your stations!" he ordered. Amy grabbed her special pen and clicked it. Suddenly, it elongated into her giant piko piko hammer. Shade grabbed a long cylinder tube and two long weapons that looked like swords. They were swords and when Shade pressed the button on the tube, a skinnier cylinder tube popped out and elongated, turning into a large scythe. "Okay, let's go!" Shade ran towards the entrance of the school and pulled out a gray chaos emerald. In a flash of light they all disappeared and landed uptown. "Go, Go, Go!!!" Shade said as she ran out to fight monsters. "Damn it!" Shadow cursed. He pulled out his gun and started shoot at the monsters. "They aren't working!" he finally had an idea but it was too late for that idea. "Shadow! The building! It could fall any minute and crush Knuckles! Go save him! Use your chaos control!" Shade ordered her brother to do so. But he couldn't hear her at all. He heard a shrill cry as he saw Knuckles being beat by the monsters. "Knuckles!" Shadow shouted as he ran towards him. It had seemed that Mephiles slowed down time to make everything slower. "Knuckles!!!" he ran and pulled out his chaos emerald, slowly. "CHAOS CONTROL!!!!!" Shadow shouted. Then it seemed like time had gone back to normal. In a huge flash of light Shadow disappeared from where he was and over to  
Knuckles. The wall came down and almost crushed Knuckles. The red-head sat there in shock and could not move. This was his last time he would ever see Shadow again. Sonic. Tails. Amy. Cream. Cheese. Rouge (He really didn't care for Rouge at all, so it didn't matter about her.) He flinched as the wall came crashing down. "KNUCKLES!!!!!" They all screamed for the red-head. "Ha Ha Ha Ha!" Mephiles. "Knuckles!!!!!!!!!" Shadow reached out with tears in his eyes and a hand reaching for his. Shadow wasn't crying because he liked Knuckles, which he kind of did, he just had witnessed to many deaths to handle another one in front of his eyes. He quickly slipped under the building wall and held it up. "Go!" Knuckles just sat there amazed at Shadow's face, his eyes were teary. He just sat there with wide eyes and Shadow just growled while he held it. "GO!" Shadow growled as he almost let go of the wall. Knuckles quickly slipped out. Shadow was getting tired. He couldn't hold the wall anymore. This had to be a dream! He had to be dreaming because in reality he would be able to hold anything! Shadow had to wake up. He lost grip of the building and it fell. Shade and the others ran towards the teenager who was under the building. "Richi, pick up this wall and throw it somewhere else!" The boy followed Shade's orders and moved the wall. Knuckles looked amazed and said, "Damn, Richi! You're strong!" Richi blushed slightly. "Is he alive?" Amy asked nervously. "I hear his heartbeat..and his pulse. Yeah, dad's definitely alive..do you agree, Rouge?" Richi looked up at his mother. "Yeah," she replied. All of a sudden, they heard coughing. Shadow opened his eyes and looked around. Eon was quiet the whole time. "Wait! Where's Eon?" Richi remembered what his teacher told him. "I'm over here!" the young girl replied. "Where? I can't see you!" Richi looked around to find her. Sky looked around until he spotted her, "She's over there! You can't see Eon because she's invisible," he pointed towards the air and Eon came out of hiding. "Oh right! I forgot her powers were invisibility..my bad, Eon," he apologized. Shadow coughed once more and then asked, "Where is he?" Shade just paced around. "Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no! This cannot be happening! He couldn't have re-" "Shade! Calm down!" Shadow calmed her. "We're fine! Just calm down! Where is he?" he glared at her. Richi walked up and was talking in a different language. Only they knew it, it was Richi's first language before he learned English and Japanese. It was like an alien language, sort of. Then all off a sudden, there was a great explosion and Mephiles yelled out, "This isn't the end of me, Shadow, the Ultimate Lifeform! We shall meet AGAIN!! Mwhahahaha!" he laughed evilly. "Mephiles!" Shadow ran towards Mephiles, but was too late because Mephiles had already disappeared into thin air! "Shit! He's gone!" Shadow back flipped towards the crew and frowned, as usual. "Well, at least he's gone! You guys should stay at my house for the night because it's safer there than anywhere else. Especially with Mephiles on the lose," Shade told them. "Who's Mephiles?" Sonic and Tails asked. "Shadow will explain it when we get to my house," Shade answered for her brother. "Okay..let's go!" Sonic said energetically. He couldn't wait to see Shade's house...

To Be Continued..


	9. Some Secrets Are Revealed

******Knuxadow High School Part 8.2 -**

_**Shadow's Past and Mephiles's Return Part 2 -**_

_**Some Secrets Are Revealed  
**_  
_**Outside Building 1 of Willow Woods High (4:37 pm)**_  
The group had to return to school to see what if everything was okay. When they were about to walk inside the office, they happened to pass up Silver and Blaze. Shade stopped and asked if they wanted to spend the night at her place. At first, Blaze refused. "Just think, mate, you could get all the sushi you wanted at the buffet," he nudged his girlfriend. She thought for a moment, and then finally agreed to come. "Wait, we don't have our clothes," Blaze said to Silver. "We're gonna stop by everyone's houses so they can grab their things," Shade responded. "Okay, is it alright if we meet you at your place? I need to go buy some more cat food for the cat and me." She asked. "Sure, we'll see you there," Shade said. Blaze waved and continued to walk with her mate. The crew resumed walking until they finally found their destination. The office was like a ghost-town! There were only about 3 teachers, 4 janitors cleaning up mess that kids left in the lunchroom, and the principal. "Oh! You're back! Sorry, guys, you don't have school for the rest of the week because of the attack," the principal said. "Okay...well, that's a coincidence!" Knuckles said. "Thank God! I can finally be away from that loudmouth, Jet. He's all 'I'm the fastest person in the fuckin' world and no one can beat me at running or extreme racing!'" Sonic mimicked. "Before we leave, I need to grab my things. Shadow, I need to speak with you," Rouge walked towards the classroom. "Demetri, you come, too," The three walked into the classroom and Shadow closed the door behind them. Knuckles felt a knot in his stomach and began feeling uneasy. Sky read his thoughts and comforted him by putting a hand on his shoulder. "She's not gonna do anything. Besides, Richi is with them, so it gives you a hint that she isn't planning anything," he smiled reassuringly. His knot had suddenly faded away as he spoke to Knuckles softly. His thoughts cleared, and he began to blush slightly at the thought of Sky being so kind.

_**In Class 1-C...**_  
"Cool classroom, Daddy." Richi looked around his parents' classroom. "I can't take him this time," Rouge spoke quietly, knowing that if she spoke too loud everyone could hear the conversation through the not-so-thick walls of the hallway. "Why not?" Shadow replied. "Because I have to work! GUN is expecting me to be there by 10 o'clock for a mission. I don't get off till' like 4 o'clock in the morning! That's why!" She folded her arms. "So...who am I going to?" Both parents shrugged in response. "What's the point of this so called "meeting" if you didn't come to your conclusion and decide who I stay with?" Richi frowned at his parents. "Man, I swear, it's like I'm sitting next to two brick walls. They're freaking smarter than Albert Einstein combined, yet they can't even decide who their child stays with," He grumbled to himself, while the teenagers shrugged in confusion. "I guess he'll just stay with me, then." Shadow sighed. "Okay, fine by me," The two adults grabbed their belongings and rushed out of the once-filled room. "Okay, let's go," Shadow walked past everyone. They all nodded and walked towards the entrance of the high school. Shade stopped in front and said, "Okay, listen up! When we get to my house, do NOT touch ANYTHING! If I even see your hand on the TV remote, you're signing your own death whatchamacallit!" She looked over at her family and they smirked. "You mean a 'death warrant', Auntie Shade," Eon corrected, referring to her as an aunt even though she wasn't related to Shade. "Yeah, what she said. Thanks, Eon," Shade smiled. Eon shrugged, and Richi winked at her making the turquoise-haired child blush until her face was as red as Knuckles' hair. "Please, a girl like you could never beat me. You're too slow!" Sonic scoffed. "Oh really…" Shade had one of her expressionless faces on as she spoke. Sonic gulped. Quickly, the second oldest ultimate life-form disappeared and reappeared behind him. "Boo," she whispered in his ear then pulled her arm back and punched him. "YOW!" Sonic yelped and everyone laughed at him. "Humph! Proves you wrong!" Shade rolled her eyes and continued walking towards the parking lot. "Damn, she's got one hell of an arm!" There was a huge red mark on his cheek. He rubbed it, but only caused more pain. They all walked down the hill and jumped into the cars and headed towards everyone else's house. After twenty minutes of driving, Shade turned down a hidden corner and passed a black gate that had the word 'Residents' on it. Sonic looked out of his window and saw nothing but the ocean. The gray car all of a sudden went down into a tunnel. The tunnel was dark, and consisted of only a few torches. The walls were made of cobblestone and the ground was smooth and black. The torches were held in wooden holders with two W's printed on it. "Willow Wood Sky was too busy surfing the web and began asking Shade, "Yo, sis, do you think we gatta do homework?"  
"No, Blowfish will say something like 'So, did anyone do their homework while they were gone?' The class will obviously say no because they have so many other things to do with their time, and I absolutely agree. Anyways, he'll just say, 'No, no! I'm just kidding around. You guys deserved a break. I agree that they do give you too much homework, so don't worry about it. Oh, I have an idea! How about we all just go outside for extra recess, after P.E.?' The class will cheer and, I think, Shadow will ask if he could bring his board," Shade said. "Okay, I needed to know 'cause I have training with Richi this whole week, and I can't afford to miss it since you-know-who showed up," Sky said ending the discussion on if they had to do homework or not. "What training? Man, this tunnel is LONG!" Sonic complained. "I'll tell you about the training later. Sorry, the tunnel is a shortcut. The other way is too long and there are too many turns I have to take just to get to my house." Shade apologized. "It's fine; I love tunnels, by the way." Amy reassured her as the Shade turned up the music. There was a honking noise behind them, as Sky looked up and saw his brother.  
"It's Shadow, and Blaze is behind him." At last, the cars had made it through the tunnel. Amy gazed out her window and saw the beautiful surroundings. The beach was far off on the other side, near a humongous mansion. They'd driven onto a bridge and were now coming off of it. The roads curved, twisted, and seemed to never end as Shade sped up the hill and onto an even wider road. "I'm getting queasy, Sonic," Amy groaned looking away from the ocean and at the blue-haired blur. He nodded in agreement, saying that he was, too. Shade rolled down the windows of her car to ease the queasiness. Eventually the roads came to an end and Shade slowed down and turned down another corner. Sky locked his phone and looked up at the road. "We're here guys!" Sonic looked out the window and frowned. "Small houses," They passed at least twelve houses when Shade finally stopped and Sonic looked again. One his side of the car, there was a small gray house with torches on each side of the door. "Hey, Shade? How are you gonna fit all twelve of us into one small house?" Amy asked. "Wrong house, Ames," Sky corrected, pointing to the end of the road, "That's our house," he said.  
"HOLY SHITAKI BALLS! This house is GIGANTIC! Well, it's _way_bigger than mine. Who built it?" Sonic was jumping up and down and asking so many questions when Shadow's mustang pulled up. He just would not shut up until Amy smacked him in the back of his head and gave him 'the look'. One door slammed and Richi walked pass, holding his book bag and Eon's luggage, "My daddy,"  
"C'mon, guys. You share a floor with me." He walked up with his keys and opened the door, Eon and Tails following carefully. When the children went in, the ones outside could hear them gawking in astonishment. "Richi, you never told me you had a big home!" Richi said as if he were amazed but not surprised, "I thought you already knew. Of course you already know I'm a vampire and stuff and I know about your situation, but I thought you would've known," Amy looked at him with a 'wtf, he's a vampire? He sure as hell doesn't look like one. Then again, he does have some sharp teeth, as if they're fangs' face on. Richi shrugged at her and said, "Wanna see my true form?" They all nodded and Shade nodded, showing her approval. "Be right back!" He said running up the almost hidden stairwell. "Sushi, sushi, and here I come!" Blaze rubbed her hands together as her crazy little mind began working up plans to get sushi through her beloved throat, down her esophagus, and into her stomach. (Cats love sushi) Shadow walked beside Rouge and whispered, "Looks like he's got new friends," he looked at his ex-lover and smiled. That was pretty much the only thing he could smile about with Rouge. "Oh, look at my baby boy! He's grown so old! It feels like yesterday when he said his first couple of sentences! But, then again, he is really smart so he picked up talking within a matter of days." she started tearing up. "Do you even remember what his first words were?" Shadow stopped at the door and opened it. She shook her head and he sighed and said, "Do I need to tell you?" Rouge looked at the house in awe and replied, "Yes," Shadow looked to Richi and laughed, "He would walk around sayin' 'Slutty bitch!' to you and you looked at him like, 'What did he just say?' Then you looked at me like it was my fault!" Rouge laughed and Shadow just glared at her. They entered the house, Shadow carrying her bags. "I'm guessing you guys didn't change the house much," Silver looked around and noticed the same pictures on the walls and the mantle. There was one big picture of two very young boys, maybe about four or five years of age, sitting next to each other with faint smiles on the adorable faces. Another had Shadow with Richi and another boy sitting on his lap. They were young in that one also. Silver noticed a third picture that he hadn't seen before. It was of the whole family. Shadow sat in the middle with both Richi and the other child sitting on his legs. Shade was standing on his left and another; young woman was standing in the middle. She had a caramel skin tone, small, devious, teal-colored eyes, and white hair that was shoulder length. Beside that mysterious woman yet familiar woman stood Skyler ver Leth Shaugh, the tallest but youngest grown-up in the family. His blond hair was down and unruly, falling on his shoulders. They all had smiles, but those smiles were faint. "That one is new, though. I don't remember that one."

"Yup, I kinda got lazy," Shadow answered. "Wait, Silver's been here before?" Amy asked. "Yeah, you know how Silver and I are from the future?" Blaze asked her. "Yeah," Amy replied. "Well, Shade can see into the future and she can teleport there, too. So, we met her one day when we were in the park with our little cat." Silver finished for his mate. "Hey, didn't you say that the future was all messed up because of that guy and Iblis Trigger and crap?" Silver protested, "It is not _crap!"_ Blaze calmed him down before finishing, "Yes, it is, but we met Shade _before _all of that happened. Shadow pulled out a green chaos emerald, Sonic gasped. "Where'd you get that chaos emerald?" Sonic shivered. "You ask a lot questions, Sonic. I can see why Aleena sent you away. And Richi likes it cold. This chaos emerald is artificial, but it still has the same power as a real one. Anymore questions, Sonic?" Shadow answered with a tone in his voice, walking to the video games sitting on the entertainment center's shelf. "That's messed up! And, no, my mother did not send me, Manic, and Sonia away for that retarded reason! It was because of that asshole, Eggman. And I'll have you know I am a _prince!_" Shadow laughed hysterically, "You sure as hell don't act like a _responsible _prince! Last time I checked, you haven't turned in your science report and it was due three weeks ago!"

"I did too!"

"No, you didn't it's still sittin' up on your counter in the kitchen."

Shadow smirked and folded his arms, Sonic having nothing more to say because he had been humiliated in front of everyone. Amy giggled, Knuckles was too busy thinking to hear, Tails was asking Shade what time they normally go to bed, "I'd said about…ten to eleven o'clock. Somewhere around that time is when we hit the hay."_ I wonder how many floors this place has,_ Knuckles thoughts surrounded him as Sky answered his unsaid question. "Exactly five floors, Knuckles," he said. "Huh?" Knuckles asked looking up at Sky, who was putting his hair in a small pigtail. "You were thinking about how many floors this place has. It has five levels. Right now, we're on level two. Level three and up are the bedrooms. Level one is the basement where the simulator is. You guys can choose who you wanna share floors with. So four of you will share a floor." he spoke calmly. "Awesome, you guys got a simulator! Those things cost a lot of money!" Tails asked.

"Not for me. We got it cheap with no glitches." Shade answered, hands on her hips.

"How much did it cost?" Tails asked, Sonic shaking his head to tell him not to ask that question. That was being nosey.

"It's alright, Sonic. We bought it for 5K, which is cheap for us. Normal one's cost about 8K."

"Really?"

"Yup,"

There was a loud _bang! _that was heard and Richi rolled down the steps. "Heh, wazzup?" Richi said like the Wayans Brothers did in _Scary Movie, _running around the room acting crazy and overly energized. "It's like he's on crack! Why is he like this?" Eon gaped. "Too much blood in his system. When he has too much blood, he gets hyper and crazy, like a sugar rush." Richi stopped in front of them, showing his features. His hair grew, and his eyes were completely black and he had a huge grin on his face. "Ha-ha! You can't get me!" He dashed in circles quickly, laughing evilly and stopped. He froze with a huge grin on his mouth. It was like it spread up to his cheeks. A few minutes later, he was on the couch, gasping for air and breathing heavily. "Whew! See! I get crazier when I'm angry, but I'm okay right now so I wouldn't do anything retarded." Eon was laughing hysterically as he guided them upstairs to his room, "You guys wanna see my room?" Tails nodded and Eon immediately followed him upstairs like a dog. They walked upstairs to his floor which was the second-highest floor in the house. "Hey, Richi, is it alright if Eon and I share a floor with you?" Richi looked back at them and smiled, "Sure. I'll show the rooms you stay in. Oh, by the way, if you need help decorating your room, just ask."

Back in the living room, Sonic was arguing with Amy about Knuckles liking Shadow -as usual-. "Rouge, you're seriously okay with Knux crushing on Shadow like that?" Sonic concluded the pointless discussion between the two. "Huh, did you say something?" she looked up from the picture on the mantle. "What are you lookin' at, Rouge?" Amy went over to look with her. She looked at the picture and saw a boy frowning. He had black hair with medium-sized streaks all in his hair and crimson red eyes. He looked exactly like Shadow in his younger days. "Oh, Shadow! You looked cute when you were a kid! Aw!" Amy squealed. "That isn't Shadow." Shade walked up and grabbed the photo from Rouge, cleaning her fingerprints off of the picture. "Who is it then?" Rouge asked the girl. Richi just frowned and began speaking, "I think Rouge should know, since I mean she con-!" Shade held his mouth shut and smiled at Amy, glaring at her nephew and shaking her head no. Amy shrugged at Rouge, asking, "Hey, what time do you normally get up in the morning, Richi? I mean, since you're a vampire and stuff, I wanted to know." Richi scratched his head, thinking. "Uh, I normally get up at about...ten o'clock at night. That's my normal time on the weekends because I'm so busy drawing and inventing and shi-crap, I said crap! However, my dad, who obviously hates it because I'm up all night and sleep all day, makes me sleep regular. When I'm on break from school, I get to go back to vampire time." He explained, looking at the big clock in the living room. "In vampire "world", I guess you could call it that, it's probably...About 5:30-6:00 in the morning. We're a day behind, I think. Skyler, are we a day ahead or behind?" Skyler peeked out of the kitchen from cooking dinner and said, "Behind. The vampires set their clocks back as if it's daylight saving time, just every day. Hey, which sounds better? Takeout, pizza, or the buffet? Or, we could just have some leftovers from the barbecue the other day?" Sonic, who was quietly sitting on the couch, texting Sonia and Manic about being humiliated in front everyone, answered that question, "I'm hungry for takeout." Amy agreed, "Yeah, me too. Hey, Richi, what do you normally do during the day? Sorry if I'm asking too many questions." The boy shook and head and answered, "It's fine. When I get up on regular time which is about six in the morning, I go jogging. When I get back, I take a shower, eat breakfast or maybe just skip and take a nap. After that, I swim for about thirty minutes to an hour." She nodded and let him continue, "When I'm done with that, Shade and I normally practice dancing. I mean, we still have concerts we gatta go to. All of us do vocal practice. Um, we finished that, and then at about eight or nine in the evening, I train with Sky. That's pretty much the daily routine, minus the vocal and dance." Knuckles overheard him over his own thoughts and just had to say something, "Concerts? Vocal? Dancing? Training? Pool? What are you a pop star/superhero?" Richi looked down and kicked slightly at the ground, blushing slightly, "Did I say that? Woops, guess I let it slip. Heh, well, we can stop pretending 'cause it's killin' me." Sonic stood up from sitting on the couch. "What're ya' tryin' to say, Richi?" Richi looked up and spoke quietly, "Did I mention that I'm _the_ Richard Thomas Demetri III? I thought you guys would've noticed my family's names. Do you know whose house you're standing in? Did you not notice something about Shade and Sky's name when you first met them? That just proves how ignorant my number one fan is." He chuckled with his locked on his speedy shoes. Richi looked up at Sonic's face and immediately saw a ghost. His face was so pale it's like he'd passed out while standing. Or maybe he'd died and gone to heaven and came back. "_WHAT?"_ All of them looked like they could've passed out where they were standing. "Brittany and Taylor would _kill_ just to be in my shoes right now!" Eon had this very faraway look in her eyes as Amy wiped tears away from her eyes. "Oh my Goodness, I never thought I would ever get to meet my favorite celebrities! I'm so happy!" Shade stepped closer to her and led her to fluffy couch, sitting her down and patting her back. "It's okay, Amy, I've seen so many others who had nervous breakdowns. Even some who fainted because they got a picture taken with the group. How about an autograph, a free CD, and a few pictures? That sounds good?" Amy lit up, nodded her head violently. Sky peeked out while Knuckles stumbled over to his favorite rock stars. "Wow, I cannot believe that I am sitting on Shadle Paris Meeca's couch, in her living room, at her house, in California!" (Let's pretend they live in the USA but it's like they live in Mobius) Shade smiled, Richi grabbing a sharpie marker. "Here, Sonic, I'll sign first. Since you love me so much, no homo." He laughed, quickly signing his blue arm cast and passing it to Shade, who signed and her brothers walked over from the kitchen. She passed the pen to them and they quickly signed autographs for everyone. "There you go guys! Oh, lemme get'chu a CD. JANICE?" Sky called, Janice quickly going down the steps. "Yes, Skyler?" He smiled, feeling his cheeks getting hot but they weren't red. "Can you go get five CDs from my room and bring them to me, please?" She nodded and smiled at the rest of the group, leaving them to gape in silence. "You have maids?" Knuckles exclaimed, grinning. "Yup, we got a maid for floors three and up. Speakin' of which, y'all wanna choose what floor y'all wanna share?" They all nodded and Shadow asked Eon who she would like to share a floor with, "Um, Tails, Richi, and I already agree on sharing one," Shadow smiled and asked Amy, "Uh, Shade?" She shrugged and Shade smiled, "Okay. I'll lead the way to the room." Amy forgot to ask Rouge, but she came anyway. _Dammit, I was hopin' to get away from you, Rouge!_Shade grumbled to herself, getting a shaken head from Shadow. He knew she hated Rouge, but knew she didn't want to disappoint Amy by kicking her out. She stomped into the elevator and they traveled up to level three. "Alright, who's with me?" Sky asked, folding his arms, smirking. Silver looked at Blaze and said, "We can, I guess." Sonic grumbled, not wanting to share a floor with Shadow or Knuckles. He'd rather hang out with Sky. He had a feeling they would become the best of friends. Tight like he was with Tails. Blaze could sense his jealousness and quickly finishes, "But we're only staying over a night or two so Sonic can share a floor with you." Sonic's face expression lit up, he was happy to get to spend time with his favorite musician artist of all time. _Okay, that means she and Silver won't be __sleeping over every day, but they'll come over,_ he thought. Knuckles blushed and looked at the ground. He would have to share the same floor as him. _Why is that every time we have to share something with each other, I'm stuck with Shadow? I mean, why him? Of all people! Not that it's a problem or anything,_ Knuckles was asking questions back and forth when Shadow snapped him out of it. "Oi, Knuckles! Snap out of it!" He snapped his finger in front of Knuckles' face to get his attention. "Who, what happened? Oh, I'm sorry, I was thinking." He apologized, rubbing the back of his head and blushing slightly. "What is up with you and this thinking thing lately, Einstein?" Knuckles smiled and shrugged, "I don't know. I just have a lot of stuff to think about right now."

_**Shadow's Floor, Knuckles Room... (5:19 pm)**_

"Well, here's your room, Knuckles. You might need some help decorating it, though." Shadow and Knuckles walked into the room. _**WHITE.**_The room was completely white, as if someone were to come in and splash white paint over the original colors. The room was cold and it had no furniture. The bathroom was even white! Knuckles glanced around and said, "So, um, I'm supposed to sleep on the floor?" Shadow chuckled and sighed, explaining the situation, "No, knucklehead! You're supposed to decorate it yourself. See that pad thing over there? That designs the way you want your room to be. Normally, I just do the colors and accessories that express me. Other times, I just go back to Ark style." He walked over to the keypad and pressed a button. Suddenly, the walls changed to a dark, gray color, and then he pressed another button and the floors changed to carpet.

"What's Ark style?"

Shadow shook his head, "My room at home. I don't live in this house. And my house is _way _bigger than this."

Knuckles had a very easy time trying to imagine his house being bigger than Shade's. "Where do you live then?" Shadow sighed, "You _are_ just like Sonic. You ask a lot of questions. And that question, Knuckles, is a Nonya." He said, Knuckles looked confused, "Nonya?" Shadow grumbled and turned around, facing the door. "Nonya business," Knuckles was both astonished and hurt. _It was just a question, _he grumbled. He started to change the colors around while Shadow stood there watching his every move. The red-head found his color and added accessories. The TV went in the corner of the room on the right side. There were one couches and one chair, and he pushed them in the opposite. The ebony-haired teenager knew how his design was going to look so he decided to help out. "Hey, do you want the chair over there?" Knuckles glanced back and nodded silently. He pushed it over on the left side of the TV, diagonal to the screen. The other couch went the same way except it was on the right side, touching the wall. There was a gap in the midst of the chairs so he could walk and sit down easily. Now, they just to move the bed over to where Knuckles liked. He wanted it in the corner on the opposite side of the bathroom. The bathroom was over beside the TV across the room. "Thanks for helping," Knuckles smiled softly and Shadow smirked then asking, "Want me to help you put up your stuff?" Knuckles shrugged, answering, "If you want. I don't mind," Shadow walked out of the room and grabbing the suitcases filled with the stuff Knuckles had brought with him. "Here, I'll get that suitcase and you get that one." Knuckles stated, grabbing the biggest suitcase. "No, I'll take that one," Shadow slid it over to himself and pushed the small one over to the boy sitting on the floor. He frowned at the fact that Shadow was doing more work. Most importantly, he had something that was very precious to him in the bigger suitcase. "No, I'm doing the big suitcase," He protested, pulling the bag back. Shadow had a nice grip so Knuckles couldn't pull it back all the way. "Knuckles, why are you so anxious about me unpacking this bag? I mean, jeez, it's no big deal; I'm just tryin' to he-"

"Well whose bag is it? Right, it's mine! And what I say goes! I'm doing unpacking the bigger bag and you're unpacking everything in the other baggage, got it?" Knuckles was getting very aggravated as he crawled up to Shadow's expressionless face, poking his nose with his index finger. Shadow looked at his eyes and saw the exasperation in them. Knuckles turned to face the bag behind him. Shadow sighed, looking at his features from behind. He cocked his eyebrow in curiosity while talking to him, "Okay, sorry! I'm just trying to help, Rouge!" He froze in his place and covered his mouth. "What did you just call me?" Knuckles turned around quickly, glaring at Shadow in both shock and curiosity. "I-I did-it was a…" He trailed off, Knuckles crawling in between his opened legs and looking at the ebony-haired both apologetic and shocked face. "Why did you just all me Rouge?" Knuckles moved closer to his face until their noses were poking. Shadow looked down at the 16 going on 17 year old teenager. "I..it..my..I can't tell you. You wouldn't understand the situation right now." Knuckles sat down on his behind, not believing a word Shadow said. Shadow saw it in his face, too. He sighed. Knuckles folded his arms as if waiting for a response. "Rouge was another woman. Not the one we know. She was my wife once, but things didn't work and we divorced. After that, Shade and Sky took my son away and they moved to Tokyo. My youngest son died from a bullet to the head. That left Richi. This is the first time I'm seeing him in three years." Shadow's studied the floor as Knuckles sighed in relief, seeming to not give a crap about anything Shadow after the part about this other Rouge girl. "Oh, well, I thought she was _my_ Rouge, heh," He turned back around taking his shirt off and revealing a loose, white tank top. _She is your Rouge, you little baby! You guys are the most ignorant people I've ever met! I swear a damn __**blind**__ person could see the resemblance in the two! Now if you don't figure out the resemblance within a day then you are just a __**fool**__, _Shadow thought, glaring at Knuckles in shame. "Pitiful," he whispered aloud. Knuckles heard him but didn't say anything. _Good thing Shadow can't read minds like Sky. I do feel bad for him, losing one of the most precious things to him. A son and a wife. I wonder what his wife looked like. She must've looked like Richi since the other son seemed to take his father's looks,_ Knuckles wondered, unpacking his bag and placing stuff where it was to go. "Hey, what was your son's name? The deceased one?" Shadow looked away from Knuckles and to Sonic's door. "Striker Dorian James II. We named him after my career name. But instead of showing his talents as a violinist, we kept him a secret. Why?" Knuckles pushed his underwear and tank tops in one drawer, placing the special occasion clothes in the closet. "No reason, just asking. You never told me you had _two _kids, though." Shadow furrowed his brows and fixed his gaze back onto Knuckles' hips. _Why the hell am I staring at his hips? And I never told you about my twins because you never asked! _Shadow managed to keep his face expression looking calm, cool, and collected. (Is that how it goes or what?) HE was starting to get annoyed and Knuckles could sense it too. _Okay, Knuckles, time to shut up!_ Shadow stood up, stretched, exposing his "gorgeous" abs and Knuckles blushed. "Well, um, heh, do you like your room?" He asked, lowering his arms. Knuckles shrugged. "Cool...I guess...Better than my room at home," He answered.

"Humph," He answered, folding his arms, "So, um, I guess..I'm gonna leave and let you...do...whatever," He walked out and Knuckles opened his mouth to speak, but stopped himself from being heard. "You're welcome, Knuckles," Shadow smirked, walking to Sonic's room; which is right across from Knuckles. Shadow knocked and Sonic opened his door a few seconds later. "Do you need help with your room?" Sonic shook his head and he looked around and spoke in a relieved tone, "Oh okay, never mind. You already got everything," He walked away because Sonic had already designed his room and was putting up his clothes and shoes. Closing the door, Knuckles sniffed the air and kicked off his shoes. _I love this room! _He thought, _Now, I just need to take a shower, and then I can get some peace from Rouge, for once, _he quickly found the bathroom, turned on the shower, hurriedly undressed, and stepped in. Ten minutes later, the faucet squeaked and Knuckles came out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He ruffled his hair in the mirror and frowned, "I gatta get someone to do my dreaded mess! I wonder if someone can do hair," He grumbled, not liking the fact that he had to get his hair done sooner or later. Pulling it up into a ponytail, put some jeans on and a shirt, and then dived onto his couch. It was soft and warm and comfortable to the shoulders and back, unlike his couch on Angel Island or at his house. "Great…Nothing on TV," Knuckles flipped through the channels on the TV and turn over on his side. Yawning, the red-headed boy closed his eyes and let his mind wander. _Who is that Rouge girl he was talking about? Who is Maria? How does he know __Robotnik? Do Shadow and his family have a connection with Eggman? What is he hiding from us all?_Knuckles fell asleep with many questions on his mind. He didn't really know anything at the moment. Then, he woke up to the sounds of his iPhone ringing. "What…What the hell? What time is it?" HE stretched, "I just fell asleep five minutes ago and now I get a stupid message from RTD III! Richi, this better be good because I was having a good dream!" He grumbled, fully awake now, but read the message anyway.

_**Knuckles,  
Dinner's ready. Decided to order pizza, or you could just eat from the buffet, if you'd like. Oh, by the way, we're in the dining room. Raven will show you where to go...**_

_**RTD III**_

Heaving a sigh, Knuckles rubbed his head. He got up, walked through his bedroom, and out the door into the hallway. To the elevator he went. On his way, he happened to meet his servant, Raven. She was walking down the hallway. Her long auburn hair was swaying as she walked. "Raven, could you help me? I need to get to the dining hall." Knuckles asked as she turned. "Oh, well, since you asked, you go to the living room, and to your left you'll see a door right next to the kitchen. That's where the dining hall is." She smiled and pushed her glasses up on her nose. "Thanks, Raven," Raven nodded and began walking towards the end of the hallway. Knuckles went to the elevator and pressed the button. The doors slid open and he stepped inside. "Five, four, three, two, and one." He pressed button number 1 and went down toward the dining room.

_**Dining Room (8:02 pm)**_  
Following her instructions, Knuckles found the dining room in a mere 10 minutes. "It's about damn time, Knuckles!" Rouge grumbled impatiently. "Oh, hush, you weren't the least worried about me, so quit your bitching." he growled under his breath. Richi just scoffed. "What was that?" Rouge frowned. "Nothing. Or at least, you wouldn't understand. You know, because you're a woman, and you 'don't understand men talk'," He imitated something she had said in the past. _Nothing, my ass! _Sky looked up at Knuckles and almost choked on the hamburger he was eating. "Looks like somebody finally came downstairs." Shadow walked in, with his hair up and a smirk on his face. Knuckles just grinned stupidly. "Well, you gonna say something?" Shadow smirked. "Um, I got your messages, Richi, where's my pizza?" He asked. "In the kitchen," He replied walking in from the buffet room. Knuckles went into the kitchen and found his pizza on the counter. Three pieces. They were warm, too. Suddenly, Shadow walked in and over to the sink to put a couple of plates in it. "Hey," Knuckles said, taking another bite into his pizza. "Yo," Shadow said sitting across from him. "Did you fall asleep or something?" He asked. Knuckles nodded and began eating his second piece of pizza. "Oh, I see. We were just about to sit down and play some games if you wanna join. We'll watch a movie afterwards, I think," He smiled faintly. "Oh, cool. What movie?" Shadow thought for a moment and then called Shade, "What movie are we gonna watch?" Shade waited a moment, and shrugged, "I don't wanna watch a movie, so count me out. Ask your brother," She folded her arms. Sky shrugged and looked at Richi. "No, thanks, I have a blueprint I'm working on. Maybe tomorrow. By the way, Amy, I finished working on Cheese. It just needs to rest and then I can return it to you," He said. "Guess no movie today. You guys wanna watch a movie?" He asked the rest of the crew. "Not really," Sonic rubbed the back of his head. "If Richard wouldn't mind, I'd like to join him." Eon grinned. Tails agreed with both Sonic and Eon. "Okay, then." Shadow shrugged it off his shoulders and placed his face in his palms. "Shadow...Who is Maria? You had yelled her name in class earlier today, and it's been tugging at me since the end of school, today." Knuckles' curiosity got the best of him finally. Shadow shook his head and placed it on his hands. "Nobody," Knuckles was taken aback by his answer thinking, _Well, if she's nobody why did you yell her name? I'm not so damn stupid and I can keep secrets. Matter of fact, I'm keeping a lot of secrets from everyone already._ He finished his last piece of pizza and threw his paper plate in the trash, drinking his grape juice and wiping his mouth and staring at Shadow in disbelief. "Right…nobody," He said quietly.

_**Living Room (8:27 pm)**_  
"Okay. Everybody's here? One, two, three, and four..." Shade joined the circle. "So, what game do we play first? We have Sorry, Sorry Sliders, Monopoly, Chess, Checkers, Life, Uno, and Trash," They all raised their hands except for Rouge. "Okay, Amy, you go first!" she smiled. "Um, what's Trash?" she smiled. "Okay, Trash is a two-player game where I would place 10 cards in front of me." Shade placed the right amount of cards and continued, "Then, you pick a card in your deck. If you have an 8, you put it two spaces before the tenth card. Pick up that card that's in the eight spot and see what number it is. If it's a 6 put it in the sixth spot. Got it?" Shade glared at them. "I wonder where she got six and eight from!" Sonic snickered to a grumpy knucklehead. 'Leave me alone. Your pathetic jokes are a pain in the ass, and so are you' he thought, growling, low enough for only those with very sensitive hearing to hear. "Yeah, I get it," Amy grinned. "Richi, can you go get me some water?" Sonic asked. Richi nodded, "Yeah, sure," Quickly; Richi got up and went to the kitchen. There were a couple of banging noises as plates were moved and a cup was taken out of the dishwasher.

_**Time Unknown**_  
"You lucky son of a-" Silver watched as Sonic and Shadow played Sonic Riders. "Watch it, Sonic! There are children around!" Amy fussed. _This is super boring to me,_ he sighed unhappily. Fortunately, Knuckles -since he liked Shadow- was pushed up against Shadow's soft, pale flesh. Shadow could feel his face getting hot, but his cheeks stayed their normal, pale color. Gerald had taught him how to keep his facial expressions in a normal mode. He glanced down at Knuckles to see his face was slightly pink. Knuckles was comfortable, yet he wasn't. He was uncomfortable because he was squished between two people. Rouge on his right, Shadow to his left. He was comfortable because he was pressed up against Shadow's cold body. Even though Shadow wasn't warm, Knuckles felt cozy. "Eon, can you flip the fifth light switch by the stairway?" Shade asked her. Eon nodded and got up to turn the light switch on and the lights went dim. Different colored dots were spinning all over the walls of the living room. "Cool!" Sonic applauded. "Thanks, Eon!" Shadow nodded at her. "Time for Dance, Dance Revolution! Who wants to go against me?" Shade smirked. Everyone wanted to go. "Me, me, me, me, me, me, me, me!" Sonic pleaded. "No, I'll go. You'd never ever beat my auntie!" Richi stepped onto the dance pad and asked which song they'd dance to. "I've danced to every single last one of these songs!" Richi boasted confidently. Eon giggled as he smirked at her. "How about...KaRaKuRi?" Shade popped the question up. "Okay. Prepare to be defeated!" Richi bragged again. "Don't get too cocky, Thomas!" Sky called out laughing. "Thomas?" Some asked.  
_**The following lyrics are copyright to Watanabe Akiko. The song is by Kugiyima Rie, Horie Yui, and Kitamura Eri. I own nothing!**_

_**WANNAUTTO!**_

_****_

KARA KARA mawaru KARAMAWARI  
kuridasu makyuu de FOABO-RU  
KURU KURU mawaru KURIKAESHI  
dasareta SAIN WA miokuri

KARA KARA mawaru KARAMAWARI  
akiramete itara FEABO-RU  
KURU KURU mawaru KURIKAESHI  
watashi no SAIN WO miteyo!

_**SUKI sugiru HONTO MAJI de YABAI  
SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI  
anata no tonari de keshiki wo nagametai no  
SUKI dakedo HONTO tama ni KIRAI  
demo SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI  
**__**kidzuite kurenai tokoro ga YA na dake**_

_****_

koi no megami otsuki-sama dare demo ii kara  
douka douka tasukete yo ne watashi makechai sou da yo

TSU-AUTO!

KARA KARA mawaru KARAMAWARI  
SURAIDINGU shite mo todokanai  
KURU KURU mawaru KURIKAESHI  
anata no egao ni kanawanai

KARA KARA mawaru KARAMAWARI  
itsuka uchitai wa HO-MURAN  
KURU KURU mawaru KURIKAESHI  
BANTO no kamae de jyougai

iu yameru yameru yappa MURI da  
SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI  
konna ni nayande hitori de kanashii yo ne  
SUKI dakedo HONTO tama ni KIRAI  
demo SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI SUKI  
ki ni shite kurenai tokoro ga YA na dake

hoshiuranai omajinai nandemo ii kara  
douka douka senaka oshite watashi jishin ga nai no yo

CHENJI!

KARA KARA mawaru KARAMAWARI  
kuridasu makyuu de FOABO-RU  
KURU KURU mawaru KURIKAESHI  
dasareta SAIN wa miokuri

KARA KARA mawaru KARAMAWARI  
akiramete itara FEABO-RU  
KURU KURU mawaru KURIKAESHI  
watashi no SAIN wo miteyo!

_**KARA KARA mawaru KURU KURU mawaru KARA KARA mawaru KURU KURU mawaru  
**__**KARAMAWARI no KURIKAESHI de KARAMAWARI wo KURIKAESHIte  
KARAMAWARI wa KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU  
KURU KURU KURUKU sore demo akirametakunai no**_

_****_

PUREIBO-RU!

KARA KARA mawaru KARAMAWARI  
SURAIDINGU shite mo todokanai  
KURU KURU mawaru KURIKAESHI  
anata no egao ni kanawanai

KARA KARA mawaru KARAMAWARI  
itsuka uchitai wa HO-MURAN  
KURU KURU mawaru KURIKAESHI  
sayonara gyakuten jyougai!

_**KARA KARA mawaru KURU KURU mawaru KARA KARA mawaru KURU KURU mawaru  
KARAMAWARI no KURIKAESHI de KARAMAWARI wo KURIKAESHIte  
KARAMAWARI wa KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU  
KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU KURU sore demo akirametakunai no  
sayonara gyakuten jyougai!**_

Richi's combo was 403, Shade's was 402. She lost. "OH YEAH! I WON! I WON!" He cheered out loud and shook hands with his aunt. "Who's next to be devoured by the great, the handsome, the wonderful Richard Thomas Demetri III?" Richi did his heroic pose as Sonic stepped up to the mat. "I'll go!" He smirked, thinking it would be a piece of cake. He sure was wrong! They chose a song, and it began to play. It was _levan Polkka_ that they danced to, and Richi...Won, again. Sonic was disappointed. He had never in his life been beaten at _Dance, Dance Revolution!_ "WOO HOO! I always win!" Richi boasted proudly. "You should have seen Richi when he was little. He always lost! Every time he'd lose to Dorian, he always cried and said, 'I hate you, Strikey!' and then run away. It was so cute!" Shade squealed. "Aw, that's so cute!" Richi frowned as Sonic yawned, "I'm getting tired, I'm going to sleep. Goodnight, see you people in the morning," Shade answered, "I'll be up in a few minutes. G'night, Ames." Sonic smirked and zoomed up to level three, Amy zooming behind him, going to level four. Knuckles yawned, waving goodnight to everyone, and walking to the elevator. Blaze and Silver had secretly gone up to their room with no one noticing. Sky had already disappeared to his own room for thinking time. "Shadle!" Richi frowned. "What? What'd I say?" Shade looked alarmed. "I told you not to say anything about him," He was trembling as his hidden sky blue eyes began to tear up. Eon looked at Richi as felt the same sadness as she did when he was a child. "Richi, don't cry. Men never show their tears." Shade tried to hug him, but he pushed her away. "This is your entire fault! If you hadn't left us there, he'd still be alive and well! You just had to find Mephiles and his stupid excuses for doppelganger," Rouge stood up, "Richi! Calm down! You're making a big deal out of it!" She frowned. Richi just glared at her with disappointment in his eyes. "Calm down? _Calm down?_ HOW THE HELL CAN I CALM DOWN? HE'S MY_BROTHER! YOU_ OF ALL PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD SHOULD UNDERSTAND MY REALTIONSHIP WITH HIM, BUT YOU DON'T! YOU NEVER UNDERSTOOD ANYTHING! ALL YOU CARED ABOUT WAS YOUR STUPID ASS _JEWELRY_! I HATE YOUR STUPID GUTS!" He yelled, tears rolling down his cheeks. Luckily, no one was there but Tails, Eon, Rouge, his aunt, and Shadow. "Ki-sama ga kirai! (I hate you!)" He sobbed, trying to steady himself. He sniffed and looked at his mother, who walked closer to him. She hugged him but he pushed her away. "Please, Richi, calm down. I haven't had time to let this sink into me. I still can't believe you've grown so much!" She started to up once more at the thought of her son almost becoming a pre-teen. "Get away from me! I don't need you anymore! I'm not your 'baby boy' anymore! I'm not your 'junior' any longer! You forgot _me, your only __**living **__son!" _Rouge was silent as Richi clenched his fist. Eon and Tails whispered to each other, debating on if they should leave or if they should comfort their friend at the loss of his younger brother by three minutes. They decided that they would go upstairs and get ready for bed. "Um, we'll just be passing you guys and head upstairs to get ready for bed. See you in the morning," Tails spoke the both of them while Richi replied, "I'll be up there in a minute," He had a snarl on his face while Eon protested, "No, you take your time. We'll just be upstairs…Yeah," They zoomed up the steps in haste to get away from the She sighed, shaking her head side to side. "He was always the stubborn one." Sky was upstairs Rouge was scolding Shadow because of Richi. "It's not my fault! Maybe you shouldn't have cursed in front of him and his brother!" He rolled his eyes. She scoffed and walked off. "Humph, you always did that when we would argue. Didn't wanna finish the sentence cause' you were afraid of what I'd do. What a scaredy bat you were. You need to get over the fact that the world doesn't revolve around Rouge anymore. There are other people you should think about over yourself. One person should be your eldest child who grew up without his brother." He quietly glared at her, Shade walking up to the elevator to join Rouge in their ride of to floor four. Shadow turned off all of the lights downstairs and ventured up the steps to floor three.

_**Richi's Level (12:39 am)**_  
After everyone left to go to bed, Eon snuck out of her room past Tails' room, and over to Richi's. She could hear quiet sounds of humming as she silently opened the door. Richi sniffed, rubbing under his white, rimmed glasses and on the back of his white hoodie. He grimaced, feeling on two, big, identical red scars that hid his wings. "Dammit," He cursed, the marks causing him pain. Eon inaudibly crawled up the spiral stairs and saw him sitting on his bed with a notebook in his lap and pen in his hand. "What?" He stopped writing, obviously smelling her. She calmly crawled on the banister, watching his every move with caution. "I just wanted to check on you," she mumbled, jumping off of the banister and over to his bed. "Well, as you can see I'm fine," He sniffed, turning his head to reveal his pale face, moist, pinkish lips, and his purple eyes. "Richi…your eyes…" Eon trailed, the boy picking the sentence up, "Are purple, I know. It means I'm angry and sad." Rolling his eyes, Eon could sense the poor boy's feelings so she mysteriously disappeared before he could say anything further. "Eon, if you don't mind, which you better not, I would like to be alone," He looked up, not smelling her beautiful feline scent any longer. "Eon? Where'd you go?" He was disappointed at her sudden departure and he yearned for her to come back. _Get it together, dumb ass. Forget about her,_ his mind told him to forget her, but his guts told him to apologize for his rude behavior. As usual, he stuck to his mind and went back to work on his lyrics, not giving a crap about anyone else but himself at the moment.

_**Eon's Room**_

She lay down on her bed with her 'I Love PSSS' shirt on and her shorts, wondering why he would be so angry over Striker. _He's just one person_, she would think. Soon her eyelids were getting heavy and she remembered to take her glasses off. Turning off the lamp and cuddling alone under the sheets, she quickly fell back into her vast world of dreams.

_**Back in Richi's Room**_

It was three in the morning and Richi was in his dreams when he felt a finger poke his scars. He'd been lying on his side to prevent any damage to his back. The poking continued for two more seconds when Richi was fully awake. He growled, eyes red as he turned over to face a teal-headed girl in her pajamas. "_What in the flying fuck do __**you **__want, Eon?" _He cursed in a whispered tone. He looked at her with anger because it was three in the morning. "Um, sorry to wake you at this time but I had a nightmare and I wasn't capable of going back to sleep. Is it okay if I slept in your bed for the night? It'll just be tonight," She requested his permission to borrow his bed for the night. More like for the next six to seven hours. "Eon, you're _eleven going on twelve years old_ and you're asking me of all the people in this household if you can sleep in _my_ bed. Go back to your room for crying out loud and go to sleep!" He turned back over, ignoring her pleas. "Richard, please, I am begging you! I was walking down the hallway and I don't think I can make it back the nightmare was that scary," She begged, sounding as if he were to break down and cry. Richi heard it in her voice and he slid over, raising the covers for her to get under. "Hurry up before I change my mind," He yawned while she quickly slid under the sheets. "A-Arigatou," She thanked him while he fell back asleep. She shuffled under the comforter and found an acceptable position, curling up into a ball. "Richi, why are you so angry?" Richi heard her but didn't want to answer so he pretended he was out. "He must've already gone to sleep," She whispered to herself, turning over to see his face right in front of hers. Eon quietly gasped at the pretending-to-be-asleep boy. He opened his purple colored eyes again and looked directly at her face, slightly purring in annoyance that she moved out the comfortable position they were in. He'd been positioned beside her warm body, taking in her heat. He surely wanted to cuddle with her. "I'm sorry, did I wake you?" She asked cautiously waiting for his answer. "No, I never was asleep, E," He called her by her nickname. She blushed and looked at him. "I'm angry because my mom left my dad and forgot me until now. This is the first time she's seen me in eight years and today she wants to act like I've been right next to her all this time." He had a small flashback; "_I'm getting so tired of you! We're finished…and you can take your stupid ass ring back!" She cursed, throwing her thousand dollar wedding ring at him and walking over to her closet, pulling out a bag and stuffing multiple loads of clothing and jewelry in there. Shadow walked over and grabbed her arm, turning her to face him. "Where are you gonna go? Huh? You can't go anywhere! Without me, you're a wreck! A piece of shit! Nothing!" He yelled at her, speaking the truth. Her eyes started to water as she smacked him on the cheek and pushed him to the wall. She sobbed in his black T-shirt, beating on his chest. He looked down and saw her watery, teal colored eyes. He also saw his little son and wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her lips. She attempted to push away but he was stronger and he held her in place, slowly pushing her to their bed. He kissed her neck and moved down to his stomach, kissing on her side as she protested and kicked at him. He only continued and slowly pulled down her yellow leggings, exposing her purple underwear. Shadow kissed her pelvis before she started to kick harder, pushing him back and she pulled up her pants, crying with fear and anger. "Get away from me!" She sobbed. "Why the hell are you even crying?" He shouted. She got up, pulled Shadow's suitcase away and to the door, meeting her five year old son, who was standing right in front of her. He stared up at his mother and at his father, who then pushed her fully out of the door and slammed it in her face. "FUCK YOU!" She kicked the door and turned back around to face Richard. "Where ya' going, Mama?" He smiled at her, reaching up to her to pick him up. She smiled and let go of the handle on her now ex-husband's suitcase, picking him up and giving him a big kiss on his cheek. __"Mama's going to the mall for a while. I'll be back later, okay?" Her smile died down as she walked into the great room where Shade and Sky resided. She gave them a look and Shade took the baby. "Promise Mama you'll be a good boy while I'm gone?" Richi nodded, Shade giving him his little scientist passiphire. He turned around and played with his aunt's hair, not caring about anything else._

"Then, I'm sad because of my brother's death. He was so little too. Only six years old when a bullet is bullet is fired, aiming for the strongest child which was me, but he stepped in front of me and sacrificed himself," He sighed, Eon moving closer to him. His pale cheeks suddenly turned a pink color as she pulled him into a hug. He looked bewildered at first, but soon got over it and wrapped his arms around her back. "That was a really sad story, Richi. I'm sorry about that. I know how it feels to lose someone you love." He agreed with her, Eon looking up at the watery eyed boy. "Richi…It's okay," She reassured him, wiping his tears away. His sniffed, pulling his legs closer to his chest and breathing slowly. "It's my entire fault!" He let the tears come while Eon kept disagreeing and comforting the broken boy, "No it isn't! It's Mephiles' fault and you don't need to blame yourself because you are not the killer!" Her piercing eyes gazed at Richi's sad ones and she scooted closer to him. "But I can't sit here and just let it go! I want to get my revenge!" Eon shook her head and spoke, "Let it go, Richi…Let him go. He is no longer with us anymore. You mustn't cry or mourn any longer. There are other people besides your brother that are here to be with you. This is what Striker would have said to you," The teal-headed girl smiled at him and kissed his cheek softly. He blushed and smiled at her faintly, yawning, "I might as well let him go for now," Eon hugged him and said goodnight. Then, they laid back down, holding hands and drifting off back into the vast world of dreams and nightmares. Hopefully, just dreams for the two.

_**TO BE CONTINUED...**_


	10. A Day Spent Entirely With Richi

_**Knuxadow High School Part 8.3 –**_

_**Shadow's Past and Mephiles' Return Part 3 –**_

"A Day Spent Almost Entirely with Richi"

Richi's eyes opened to the sounds of the girl's purring. He felt this weight on his body and it was warm. "Ah!" He yelled, seeing that his position was quite awkward. Eon rose up from his chest immediately looking very alert. "What happened?" She looked down at Richi who was blushing furiously. Her eyes grew wide and she felt her cheeks reddening. "Um, gomenasai, Richikku," They were looking at each other in embarrassment as Richi grabbed Eon's waist and propelled himself upwards. Their faces were right up close. "Um," Eon quickly moved away from her location, which was sitting on top of him. "It's okay. I guess we were dreaming wildly last night." He stretched and slid quietly out of the bed, looking at the clock. It was seven o'clock in the morning. That was pretty late, compared to his normal time of five forty in the morning. "Yeah, I guess so…"  
"I'm going out to jog. Maybe later after I'm done with my schedule we can go to the mall and shop for a bit. I'm getting my allowance today," Richi traded his blue boxers for some black, swim trunks and a tight, white rash guard while uttering to her. Eon nodded and he started putting on Reebok's and grabbing his hoodie, mutely creeping out of the room, past Tails' room and down the steps, leaving Eon to sigh alone.  
When Richi reached the second floor, he found the kitchen lights on and he walked in there. To his surprise, he saw someone digging in the refrigerator. He quickly stepped closer. Expecting to see his dad or Sky, he saw Knuckles. The red-head was looking for something to munch on. "Can't sleep?" The white-haired boy asked, Knuckles looking up at him. He nodded and softly smirked, pulling out some fruit. Knuckles had on his white T-shirt and some red shorts. "What are you doing up so early?" He finally broke the stillness and Richi was quick to respond, "About to go jog. By the time I get back everyone should be up." The other male grunted, sitting on the stool that was connected to the island. "Mind if I joined you? I don't have anything else to do and I'm already awake," Richi shrugged. "I don't care. As long as you keep up because I don't deal with slow pokes, I'm fine with being accompanied." Knuckles cocked an eyebrow, fascinated about his quick minded friend. "I see," he ate out of his fruit cup, wiping his mouth clean of any liquid.  
"Knuckles, how did you meet Rouge?" Richi asked, his curiosity soaring. Knuckles had a flashback and he told Richi about it.  
It was Friday night, the last day of the third year at Willow Woods High. Knuckles was sitting at Sonic's table in the backyard, all alone. Sonic was the host for the end of the school year party. Everyone was inside partying their asses off with all their friends and he was sitting alone with a party hat, playing with his little bubble blower. Amy peeked out of the slide doors and saw him. "Knuxi, what are you doing out here all alone? You should be inside partying with everyone." He smiled weakly and answered shyly, "I'm not into parties. And I suck at dancing, too. Besides, I'm not really in the mood to party either."  
"Such a party pooper."  
"Am not."  
"Are too!" She laughed, "Oh, hey, I want you to meet somebody. Rouge?" She ran back into the house, leaving Knuckles to sulk alone. Amy came out with another young girl and said, "Knuxi, I would like you to meet my new best friend, Rouge. Rouge, this is the one I was talking about the other night." Knuckles blushed as he checked her out. She had on a purple cover with a zipper in the back and some very short jean shorts. "Well, go on! You two get to know each other and stuff and I'll be inside dancing my head off!" She shoved Rouge in closer to Knuckles, who stood and shook her hand. "Hi, I'm Knuckles, but you can call me Knux," He grinned sheepishly. Rouge blushed and let go of his hand. "I'm Rouge, but you can call me RuRu for short," She smiled. God, she is so hot. Just by looking at her could make a man pass out, Knuckles thought, a small blush creeping onto his cheeks. "Well, um, how did you meet Amy?" Knuckles asked, changing the subject slightly. "Well, I met her at the mall one day. We bumped into each other and dropped our clothes. How did you meet Amy?" She asked, Knuckles chuckled and answered, "Sonic met her when he was sent to an orphanage with his siblings. They've known each other since they were about four. I could tell he liked her a lot," He explained. Rouge was giving him her undivided attention and they conversed for a little while longer. "Ha-ha, you're funny, Knux. I like that," She smiled, her clear lip-gloss sparkling. "Thanks, I like you, too, RuRu," The red-head blushed in the moonlight. "Hey, I have an idea! Let's go dance!" She quickly got up and walked over to him, pulling him up and walking in the living where many people were dancing to a slow song. Thank God it's a slow song that I can dance to; Knuckles walked to the center of the room with Rouge and wrapped his hands around her waist. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled closer. "Um," He started but his guts told him to shut up and enjoy the moment. "What is it?" Rouge asked, worrying something serious was happening. "Oh, nothing. I'm fine," He reassured her. She inhaled deeply and rested her head in his chest, slowly moving around in circles in her wedges. Knuckles fixed his eyes on Rouge and rubbed her hair with his left hand. She gazed at his purple eyes and he gazed at her teal ones, no knowing how close they were getting. Before Knuckles knew it, his tongue was inside of her mouth, exploring the cavernous walls. Then he met her tongue and it was a battle for dominance. They'd stopped dancing and moments later, the music stopped, Knuckles not noticing until he heard someone's voice clearing. They stopped kissing and Rouge blushed deeply as the crowd that was once dancing and having fun circled them with phones and cameras recording everything. Sonic was in front with Amy, smirking and recording. Knuckles blushed and grabbed Rouge's hand.  
"And that's how it goes," He stated, ending the flashback. He left out a few parts. From what Skyler told Daddy, Knuckles slept with her that night, but wasn't deep compared to what Daddy did. But he was only 15! Maybe they didn't really do the disgusting stuff. Maybe they just kept it at a limit. Not even I would do that, Richi thought hard, not paying attention to Knuckles, who had spoken, "Okay, I'm ready," They walked out of the back of the house and Richi began jogging on this trail leading to the woods. Knuckles followed him and they began their journey through the trees. "So where does this lead us?" Richi explained he would give him a tour around the house after the jog. "Right now, we're about to pass the pool, the basketball court, and the trampoline. After that, we'll go through another display of trees and then the cliff." As he spoke, they passed a fresh water pool that was the size of Sonic's apartment. To his left, he saw a hill and then up on that hill was a rock. Next to the rock was the basketball court. Richi dodged the basketball goal as if it were something being thrown at him. He ran up the hill with no problem, Knuckles following him in silence. Maybe I shouldn't have told him, he thought, shaking his head and jogging next to him. "Wait, stop!" Knuckles stopped from running up the hill. "What…was your mother like? Before she left?" Knuckles asked, panting softly. Richi was surprised. He'd not seen his mother since his brother died, which was about six years ago. "She…Mama…I…Daddy…It's…I can't explain it without…I just can't!" He didn't know what to say. She was the most beautiful woman to him in the entire world, yet she was the most wretched person he knew, besides Mephiles. "I bet she looked just like you," Knuckles walked up the hill, towards Richi, who'd been standing there looking at him in the slightest anger possible. "She did. Everything except for the attitude and the cheeks. My skin complexion, my eye-color, my nose, my mouth, my hair color, my eyebrows, my sensitive hearing (but that runs in the family), my ear shape, my voice tone being so deep (that also runs in the family), and me being a vampire. It's all hers." He averted his gaze down at the grass below him. Knuckles patted his head, smiling warmly and jogging into the forest, where he ssaw a small creek that ran all the way to the end of the trees where the cliff the two were going was. "Jeez, that was short. I thought it was gonna be longer." Knuckles complained and sat down on the green grass, seeming to not remember the schedule Richi goes by. "You're forgetting the schedule I run by. Thirty minutes of jogging, thirty minutes of rest and replenishment. Afterward, I go swimming for thirty minutes to an hour. Then I go back, take a shower, and maybe eat breakfast. Shade should be up around that time so I have vocal practice with her and the rest after breakfast and some video games. Dance comes after, but that's with the whole group. I'm hoping I can get in the studio to record some tracks. Training with Sky at around nine o'clock, then it's one-on-one with my daddy for, like, ten minutes. I forgot to mention that to Amy, but it's more private." Richi finished explaining and Knuckles nodded, understanding him. "Here, I got you some grapes," The small, tanned skinned child tossed him a handful of grapes and they shared them. "So, next for you is to go back?" He tossed a grape in his mouth and chewed. Richi shook his head and spoke, observing the sun as it slowly rose, "No, I'm just going to the pool. Why? Did you wanna hang out with me today?" Richi glanced up at him and asked him. Knuckles shrugged and continued eating his fruit. "I guess I can. Wouldn't hurt to get away from everyone. If you know what I mean," Richi glanced up at Knuckles, stood up, stretched, and walked over to the edge of the cliff. He closed his eyes and sniffed the oxygen around him. "Everyone misses you…a lot," He whispered, looking up at the sky. He sighed and turned to face the red-head. "Let it go, Richard. Let it all go. He's gone now, and he's never coming back," He walked back down to Knuckles, who had heard him and was wondering what the hell he was talking about. "Come on, Knuckles," They both walked to the pool and Richi took his shoes and socks off, jumping into the pool water and creating a splash. He swam back up to the surface and pushed his wet hair back behind his ears. His hair was practically stuck to his head as he swam to the shallow end of the pool with his dark blue goggles. "Hey, Knuckles, why don't you come in? The water's perfectly fine!" The young vampire faced Knuckles, who'd been sitting on the edge of the pool near the shallow end. "Okay," He took off his shirt, exposing his white, crescent moon birthmark and his caramel colored skin. He let his long, waist-length, red hair fall down as he slipped under the dark blue water. Richi went under water and beneath the rope that was used for swimming laps. The eleven year old boy started from the shallow and did breast-strokes. Knuckles eyed his movements and counted the seconds it took him to get back to where he started. After breast-strokes, he did back-strokes. Knuckles counted twenty-two seconds for the first and then twenty-nine seconds for the back-strokes. "You were faster the first time, Richi," He informed the boy who was resting by the tall diving board. "Yeah, I know," He replied, slowly breathing as if he weren't swimming at all. "What time is it?" The boy took his goggles off and attempted to ruffle his hair, but it still stuck to his neck. "Uh, I think it's about seven forty-five," Knuckles answered, thinking about how much time they've been outside of the house. "Oh, we've only been outside for forty-five minutes."  
The two males swam for fifteen more minutes before getting out of the pool and drying off with the towels they got from the smoothie stand. "Next is shower and breakfast," They walked back to the big door in which they came, opening it and stepping inside the cold, spacious house. They threw their towels down a chute that led to the wash room where clothes were washed and dried. Richi hissed like a snake, trying to quickly take off the rash guard without hurting his burning scars. "Ah, damn it!" He threw his rash guard down the chute and Knuckles gaped, "Richi, you need to put some bandages on those...things! How'd you get em'?" Richi smirked at him and tried to explain thoroughly without revealing the secret about Rouge being his mother. "My mama got punished because she was too young to have a child and they gave me these scars, and I can't put bandages on them because that's where my wings are located. I would have a hard time getting my wings out. Watch," He closed his eyes and slowly breathed through his nostrils. Suddenly, Knuckles could see his back pulsating and then the red-head could see through his flesh, noticed to black objects folded up tightly. They moved under his flesh and Richi looked back to see his wings fully spread. They were long, black, and slightly damp. The wings flapped and Knuckles could see their true length. "Whoa, they're long!"  
"Yup, two and a half feet long,"  
"Cool! I wish I had wings to, but I can glide so it really doesn't matter." They had brought two old T-shirts and they put those on. The two men walked into the kitchen to see the light off. Richi's ears twitched in irritation as he looked down the hall where the home theater was. "Come with me," He led Knuckles into a dark, big, spacious room that had six rows of seats like a mini movie theater. In one of seats in the front row, right in front of the screen sat Eon and Tails. She had her curly, teal hair pinned up in a big bun instead of its natural state which was out and long. Tails had his in its regular form, but it looked messy as if he didn't comb it properly. "Hey, E, morning Tails," They both jumped up with startle and looked at the two guys standing on the second to last step, Tails immediately waving. "Sorry I startled you two. What're you guys doing up so early? It's only eight o'clock," Richi asked, looking at Eon with interest. She smiled sheepishly and answered the question in the slightest tone of apology, as if she didn't have the freedom to roam wherever she could, "Oh, well, when you left to go exercise, I couldn't seem to fall back asleep so I got up. Me and Tails were both roaming the house trying to find something to do, so we ended up in this big room." Knuckles gave a small wave to his buddy and looked down at Richi. "I see now. You guys want something to eat? I can ask my uncle if he can help. He's a really good assistant cook." He offered all of them breakfast and by shaking their heads enthusiastically as Richard turn the screen off and the room became quiet and dark. Eon loved it like that. Tails was the first one to exit the big area and they walked into the kitchen, Richi passing it up and going over to the elevator and pressing the button that led up to Sky's room. The shaft door opened and the boy stepped past it, placing his hands in his hoodie pockets and walking. With a grasp of the knob, the old vampire calmly turned the handle and entered his uncle's room, looking up at the sky blue walls. The room was very dark; Richi programmed the drapes to keep any ounce of light from pouring into the room. There was a big, round bed with a white comforter. It had a long lump in it as Richi jumped on the bed and hopping on his uncle's back.  
"Wakey, wakey, Skyler ver Leth! You, my wonderful drumming uncle, are expected to assist me in making breakfast for everyone! Come on, dude! Wake up!" He hopped up and down on Sky's hips, doing whatever it took to wake the slumbering man up. Sky reached his hand up and closed Richi's mouth with his fingers. "I'm up, silly boy. And don't call me by my full name, you little vampire!" He laughed playfully as he tickled his nephew. Richi laughed hysterically while laughing out his name, "Ha-ha! Sky, stop! I'm ticklish!" Sky stopped tickling Richard and flipped the covers, exposing his vanilla colored skin and his bare chest. He sighed, stretching while grabbing a rubber band and a shirt with a big picture on it. Richi's smiled was instantly wiped away when he realized who was in the picture. It was him and his brother. Richi was only four and a half when that picture of him and Striker was taken. They were both playing with each other like little pups. Their hands were locked and they looked at the camera so happily, as if nothing in the world mattered but them and their family. Sky hugged his nephew and rubbed his head and quietly took a deep breath.  
They entered the kitchen and Sky put up his hair into a small ponytail. "Morning, Sky," They greeted as he walked over to the fridge, greeting them. "Buttermilk pancakes, sausage (raw for Richi and Eon), biscuits, eggs, and juice is what we're having for today." Richard said, Sky tossing him two pans and pack of sausage. He caught the pans in his hands and the sausage with his mouth. Eon remembered that Sky read minds and he knew she liked all of her meat raw. "Grab the pancake mix while you're still looking in the fridge would ya', Sky," Richi tore apart the wrapper paper that covered the sausage with his sharp fingernail. He hummed and Tails started a conversation with him. "Hey, Richi, what's your favorite class in school? What grade are you in?" Richi smirked and answered while catching the box of Hungry Jack pancake mix. "I'm in the seventh grade and my favorite class is probably physical education or...chemistry. However, my school is advance and only the smartest of the smartest get accepted, so it's like I'm in high school already," Eon corrected him by adding one small little thing, "Except for Brittany and her sisters Taylor, Alexa, and Jade." Richi was confused. "What do you mean?" Eon shook her head, letting Tails make a small statement to change the subject.  
"Wow, it is cool, that you're in advanced classes. I just turned fourteen about a month before school started. Did I mention my favorite subject is math and my favorite activity would probably be physical education, too?" Sky walked over to the sink and washed his hands, rubbing them on a towel and helping Richi cut the sausage. There were twelve people that were in the house. That would mean each person would get two, and they would make twenty-four pieces of sausage and biscuits. "Hey, I'll get the pancakes," A voice emitted from no one other the oldest Ultimate Life-form. Knuckles turned his head and blushed. Shadow had a tank-top on and smiled at him warmly and walked over to give his son a rub on the shoulder. ", don't you think it's about time you told them?" He whispered to Richi, who was pouring the pancake mix into a pan then letting his dad have the spatula. His eyes focused on the tiled floor and he took a deep breath. "Un, moshikashitara dakara (Yeah, maybe so), but it might not be the time to tell them everything. We can tell them about that just to get it straight." His answer was so straightforward that he didn't question his father about it either. Shadow nodded and smirked at his brother as his greeting. Sky nodded and continued making the biscuits. The sausages were already in the pan so he could move onto buttering the biscuits and placing them in the oven to rise. After about ten minutes of conversing, there were more footsteps, like three more pairs of feet coming into the living room. It was Rouge, Amy, and Shade. Shade had a disgusted look on her face as she followed from behind Rouge. Sky shook his head and gave her the 'don't start anything' face. Shade rolled her eyes and gave him a good morning hug. "Ohayo, Rich Bear," They laughed. "I find this very weird but you're the youngest one here!" Knuckles said, sounding almost cheered up from his sort of curious mood. Shadow's eyes glanced over at Rouge who was looking dead at him the whole time. She had her arms folded and this face that seemed like if you bothered her she would definitely go off on you. Shadow saw the same face as his son. They are both the same. He pouted like her when he was little and now he acts more like me, Shadow sighed and shook it off, catching the gaze of his sister. He flipped the second pancake and placed it on a plate, pouring more mix into the skillet. There was a small ting and Richi scurried over to the double-oven, pulling the handle and opening it. Richi grabbed it with his bare hands and Rouge just sat and watched him. "Okay, um," He shrugged and grabbed an extra biscuit to try it. "Ugh, that is so good. Sky, you put a lot of butter. Here, try it," He handed the yeast to his blonde haired uncle and he took a piece passing it to Shade, who took a small bite and smiled. Shadow got the last part and finished it, leaving everyone else to watch him in hunger. "Sorry," Richi apologized. "Alright, the sausage is ready, the biscuits are good to go, and we're waiting on the pancakes. You guys don't all have to sit in here and watch us. It gets pretty boring in here." Amy shook her head and sat on the third stool connected to the island. After two minutes of silence, Tails yawned and said, "Well, this is boring so I'm gonna go take a thirty minute nap. I'll be in my room. Wake me up when the food is ready," Instead of taking the steps, Tails took the elevator. Amy went into the living and turned on the video games. "I need to go wake Sonic up before he misses breakfast." Shadow stopped her before she made it out of the kitchen, "No need. I got it," Shadow went over to the door that led into the dining room where there was a yet another keypad "Jesus, how many keypads does this place have?" Amy asked. "A lot," Shade answered, cleaning Death Shadow, her scythe. "Your scythe is really big. Do you mind if I held it, Shade?" She shrugged and handed her thirteen pound scythe over to Amy. The pink haired teen held it with both hands and gripped it tight. "It's a little heavier than my hammer but I would be able to use it." She swung it around and Shade ducked at one swing that headed for her neck. "Whoa, Amy, watch it. I don't want my head cut off!" Shade took the scythe away from her and pressed the button on its side, making it go back into its regular form of being in a small, black tube. Shadow pressed button number six and about ten seconds letter, there was a very, very loud shriek coming from his room. It was a mixture of both pain and surprise. "What the heck was that?" Blaze popped her head in the kitchen to find Shade, her brothers, Richi, Amy, and Knuckles sitting in there. "Sonic getting electrocuted. Why, Blaze?" Shadow answered her, putting the fourth pancake on a plate.  
"He sounded like a girl," She giggled. Amy zoomed up the stairs to check on him and she found him lying in the bed. His hair was partially black and steam was emitting from it. His eyes were all the way open and his coughed loudly, "...Ow," He stared straight up at the ceiling, unable to move his emerald colored eyes. "Heh, looks like someone cast fried," She snickered at him. Sonic grumbled at slowly sat up, not realizing that his face was inches from Amy's. They both blushed and Sonic got out of bed. "Geez, what time is it?" He rubbing his full-of-sleep eyes and scratched his side. "I think about nine-thirty. I don't really know." Amy answered his question and sat on the edge of his bed. Sonic walked to his dresser and pulled out some shorts to cover his blue boxers.  
The blue-haired blur walked over to the closet and pulled out a T-shirt that said 'By the time you finished reading this, you would have wasted approximately six seconds of your life' Amy smiled faintly and stood up. "Breakfast is almost ready and about everyone is up now. Except for Silver." They both walked out the door and continued talking about different subjects.  
"Sixth pancake!" Shadow called. Richi smiled and flipped sausages over to cook the other sides. Sky poured 12 cups of juice, knowing who wanted which drink. Shade sat at the island and began speaking, "When do you think would be the best time?" Her face looked as if she were still waiting for a vision. "You didn't get a vision yet, did you?" Her nephew asked placing all the tools they no longer needed in the sink. "Not yet. I'm still waiting for some confirmation," She answered. Shadow ate a piece of cheese for the eggs and sighed, "I'm stilled worried about how they'll act when Richi explains everything. Especially Knuckles. He's already alone and now he's finding out about his girlfriend's past." Sky agreed.  
"I know. And then's it's hard on me because she's around. Every time I see her face all I think of is you-know-who," Richi placed his elbows on the counter and rested his head in his hands. "This is tough,"  
"Yeah," Shade had the same opinion. All of a sudden, Shade's eyes turned a white color and she had a vision. "What do you see this time? What's it about?" Shadow moved closer to her. Shade spoke calmly and softly, "Richard shall tell everyone about his true mother today and Knuckles will grow anger at you, Shadow. You will apologize to him but he won't accept. You will try and try and try until you finally give up. Then we will start training them. " Her eyes returned to their normal, grayish color and she ended her vision, "That's it,"  
Shadow's eyebrows furrowed as he stepped backward. "Why is it that every time you have a vision, all you have to say about me includes Knuckles?"  
"Because he likes you. Don't you notice that he is the only person in this household that thinks about you twenty-four-seven?" Shade placed her hands on her hips. Shadow didn't blush but she knew his face expression was surprised. "I-I know that!" He folded his arms as Sky and Richi shook their heads.  
"No you didn't." They said jointly. Shadow looked back at them and Richi explained, "Daddy, I know your expressions. Trust me when I say that that last expression was surprise." Sky flipped the eighth pancake and smirked. "Aye, you guys just love to rat me out, don't you?" He smiled and Shade hugged him. "That's because we all love you." Her brother hugged her back and they let go of that subject.  
Knuckles stood outside the closed, kitchen door, eavesdropping on the four. "Richi's true mother? Training?"  
"Shh, he's listening," Sky whispered to them, placed a finger on his mouth, looked mischievously as the door, and raised his eyebrows. Shadow looked at the door and saw a lock of red hair. He was slouching on the wall.  
Knuckles walked over to Rouge and sat beside her, watching Tails play 'Sonic Unleashed'. He wrapped his arm around her shoulders and she looked at him and smiled. "Hey," He kissed her cheek and she smiled at him. "Good morning, Knuckie Poo," Rouge leaned her head on his shoulder and Amy came down the steps with Sonic. "Morning, Sonic!" Tails grinned. Sonic waved at him and sat on Richi's chair. "Get outta my chair, Sonic!" He yelled to him, knowing his chair was being sat in by someone besides him. "Sorry, Shadow," He raised his hands in surrender. "That wasn't Shadow, Sonic, that was Richi," Rouge corrected. He shrugged.  
"They both sound the same but they look different. I wonder what his mama looks like," He thought aloud. Me, Rouge thought, glaring at him. "Who knows?" Knuckles answered.  
"Eggs are ready! One more pancake left to make and the sausage are done!" Sky called. Everyone rushed into the kitchen pushing and shoving through the door. "Hey, hey, hey, calm down," Richi grumbled. They all swarmed around the food with hungry grins on their faces. "Sheesh, guys!" Shadow pushed them back a few inches. He flipped the last pancake onto a plate. "Done," he said. Sky gave each plate to the right person and a cup with juice in it. Shadow went to the same keypad he used earlier to wake up Sonic. He pressed numbers and it beeped up to Tails. He immediately rose up and answered. "Breakfast is ready," Shadow held down the button, waiting for a response. "Okay I'll be down in a minute,"  
Sky made sure Eon got the plate with the raw sausage. Richi sat next to her, Tails on her other side. Sonic sat next to Amy and Rouge. Rouge sat in between his brother and sister and Knuckles sat next to Rouge. Blaze sat in at the island and Silver's plate rested to her left. "So, how is it?" Richi asked taking a bite of his raw sausage. "Delicious," Sky answered first.  
"Awesome," Shade took a bite of the eggs.  
"Wonderful," Shadow devoured a piece of his pancake  
"Extrordinary," Eon ate a biscuit.  
"The pancakes are bangin'," Sonic was chewing in delight.  
"Great," Knuckles had a mixture of pancakes, sausage, and eggs on his fork.  
"It's the best I've ever tasted!" Tails munched on his food.  
"I love it to death," Blaze chewed gracefully.  
"Yum," Rouge smiled at Richi.  
"Oh my goodness, Richi! I didn't know you could sing, dance, and cook!" Amy squealed.  
Richi thanked them all and blushed, continuing to eat his food. Every five seconds he would grab another piece of biscuit when his father grabbed his arm. Richi looked at him mouth the words 'Slow down, you're eating to fast!' Sonic looked at him with a piece of sausage sticking out of his mouth like a cigar. Richi shrugged. He slowly consumed his food and then finished with a small, simple sentence, "Okay, I'm gonna take a thirty minute nap and then it's back to work!" He took his plate to the sink and walked out, winking at Eon. Her cheeks grew pinker. "He's more energetic during the day," Blaze recalled, remembering that he hated it when they would wake him up from his slumbering. He would scold them and fall back asleep. "Yeah, since he doesn't go to the vampire academy anymore, he's on regular time during the school weeks. On breaks he does whatever."  
Eon's ears twitched slightly and wiped her mouth with her napkin."Here comes Silver," And it came to pass that Silver walked in the kitchen greeting everyone with a small smile and a kiss on the cheek for Blaze. "Aw, that's sweet!" Amy made kissy faces at them and Silver blushed. Blaze laughed at her faces and got up, taking her plate to the sink.  
Soon after everyone's plate was in the kitchen. It was Shadow's turn to do the dishes. "Here, lemme help," Knuckles offered the man. He shook his head and told him that he didn't have to. "Well, I wanted to make up for yesterday, so I'm helping," Knuckles insisted, not taking 'no' for answer. Shadow looked at Knuckles with a questioning face, wanting to know why he was acting strange. Why does he insist on helping me? Yesterday doesn't matter, he thought. Knuckles cleaned the silver wear and pans while Shadow cleaned the plates and bowls from the takeout they had the night before. "So, um, what's up?" Shadow tried to start a conversation and Knuckles could see it too. "Not really anything. I'm kind of just getting accustomed to a new house. How long are we staying?" He asked, Shadow shrugging.  
"As long as necessary. I'll have to ask Shade because she'll know," He asked, looking down at Knuckles, who was looking out the window that was in front of them. Shadow looked where he was looking and didn't see anything. "What're you lookin' at, Knux?" He asked, finally wanting an answer. Knuckles said nothing but only looked down for a few moments before answering, "Oh, nothing. I'm just thinking about something. Something important." Shadow cocked his brow in the slightest fascination and curiosity. "What is it? If I'm not being to nosy," Knuckles shook his head.  
"It's fine. I'm thinking about what I'm gonna get for Sonic's birthday coming up. I think it's...in a few days," He lied. Knuckles hadn't been thinking about that at all. He was thinking about his birthday half the time. That's what he's been thinking about this whole time? Shadow looked at him in astonishment. "Oh," He swallowed, "What'cha gonna get him?" That time Knuckles shrugged. "I don't know at all,"  
Shade stood by the door, listening to them from the dining room with a smirk on her face. In due time, Knuckles. In due time. Just be patient, Shade thought. "What do you mean?" Sky asked her, then moving away from the door. "Knuckles was talking about what he should get Sonic for his birthday. I was saying that he'll know the present to get him. He figure it out by the end of Thursday." She explained. Her brother nodded and asked, "What's today?"  
"Tuesday,"  
"Okay," Sky stood up and walked out of the dining room and and through the hallway where they found everybody in the living room watching World's Dumbest Daredevils 8. "He just decided would ride his motor bike onto this other person's car!" Tails and Sonic laughed hysterically. Eon sat on the floor beside him and watched this kid, who had already broken one arm, attempt to roller blade two flights of stairs. Unfortunately, he had too much momentum so he couldn't slow down, causing him to fall and break his other arm. "Dude, call my fucking mom, call my mom right now!" He looked at his friends and they laughed at him. Eon could see his bone poking up out of his skin. "That's cold..." Amy watched them as they laughed at his arm. "I know right," Rouge agree, rubbing her arm.  
"What do you think I should get him, Shadow?" Knuckles finished cleaning the silver wear and pots when he started to help clean the bowls and other plates. "You don't have to help me, you know?" Shadow grabbed for the same plate as Knuckles and there hands touched. Knuckles quickly pulled his hand away while blushing. "Your hands...are cold..." He trailed off. Shadow shrugged. "I always thought they were fine." Shadow answered, not noticing the statement.  
The two young adults eventually finished with the dishes and tossed their cloths in the chute that lead to the wash room. "Alright, well, I have to go wake Richi up. He has vocal and dance practice," Shadow walked the elevator shaft and pressed the button. "Alright, guys, I'm going to the dance studio. I'll see y'all in an hour." Shade waved good-bye and disappeared up the steps to change into her dancing clothes. Knuckles followed them into the elevator. Sky offered to let them come and they quickly followed him up the steps.  
Shade led Knuckles to the studio room and opened the big door. "Richard...Rich...Come on, dude. Wake up, we got vocal and dance." Shadow shook his son awake and he slipped out of bed in his trunks and some socks. "Okay, lemme put change my clothes," He walked into his walk-in closet and closed the door. A few moments later, Richi popped out in out a plain, white shirt and some sweatpants that rolled up to his calves. They absentmindedly walked to the studio room which was right next door to Eon's room.  
It was big and spacious. To the left was the recording studio and to the right was a little lounge area where Knuckles decided to sit. At the other end of the room were mirrors. "Alright, let's start with My Immortal and then move onto wherever." Shade announced. Sky walked in and told everyone to sit on the couch next to Knuckles. "Yes! I get to see them practice!" Sonic and Amy cheered quietly while giving each other high-fives.  
(My Immortal is copyrighted to Evanescence. I own nothing but the fan-characters)  
Shadow started playing his guitar and then Shade finally started singing;

"That was great, you two!" Knuckles grinned. Shade complained, saying that her voice was horrible. "No it's not! Don't say that!" Amy completely disagreed. "Oh well. Now it's time for dancing since Sky and Shadow don't have to practice today. What do y'all wanna dance to?" Richi asked. "Um, oh Mirror by Ne-yo!" Shade exclaimed, letting everyone know she loved that song. "Ahem, no!" Shadow shook his head, eyes glancing over at Eon and Tails. Richi was already old enough to listen to erotic music if he wished which is why his father didn't look in his direction. "Damnit," She cursed, Richi laughing hysterically at his aunt's desperation. "How about...Telephone by Lady GaGa? We've been workin' on that one for a while," Richi smirked at them and the rest exchanged glances before the agreed. "I love Lady GaGa!" Eon's smiled and she asked if they could teach her the dance. "Sure, we'll start if with its true speed." Richi placed a CD in the boombox and they got in their positions. Richi was dancing with Sky and Shade with Richi. Shadow and Sky went first.  
They finished their part of the song and Shade and Richi took it back to dance to the part. While Richi was dancing, Eon was surprised. Wow, he's very, very talented. He noticed her and winked, making the goofiest faces possible to make her laugh.  
Knowing Sonic and his absentminded actions, he had his recorder out and was taping both dances. "I like the second one better because it's more...sexy." Amy scrunched her nose and Knuckles disagreed. "I like the other one better. No offense, guys," He smiled faintly and they shrugged. Sonic chuckled, "That's because Shadow's in the dance," Next thing he knew, his cheek met a hand and he was on the ground twitching in pain. "Ow!" He rubbed his cheek. Knuckles rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.  
"I think the one I did was a little gay for me," Richi placed his hands on his hips and imitated a women. "But almost everyone knows you're, like the number one popper in America," Rouge finally said something, winking at her son. He blushed and thanked them. "I don't think I'm the best, though. I've seen some good poppers on the Internet." He shrugged. "Yeah," Shadow gulped down some water and tossed the bottle in the trash when he was done. He went into the recording studio and grabbed a bottle of red liquid. "Blood?" Eon asked. He nodded with a desperate look on his face. He opened up the cap and drank down as much as possible. "Ugh, that was so good," He became dreamy and almost dropped the bottle. His ears twitched and his instincts overtook him as he grabbed the container. "Hey, let's take a break before you start recording, Rich Boy," Shade rubbed his ears and he sighed in pleasure. They were all amused at his expression. He was about to drop on the floor but Eon held him up. "T-Thank yo-Heh," His eyes were an orange color, showing his pleasure. Sonic covered his mouth from bursting into laughter and Shade stopped scratching his ear. Richi stood up straight and poked his nose up in the air. Then he had this goofy grin. "Oh, Eon! I love you! I love you!" He circled her with pink eyes. She blushed furiously. "Ki-sama! (Bastard)" He growled, eyes red with anger. Everyone's eyes widened in surprise and their jaws dropped instantly. Than Richard's eyes changed orange and his tongue drooped out of his mouth like a dog, as if Eon let go of him and as the vampire's eyes changed to a yellow color. "Oh my God! Oh my God! What am I gonna do? I gatta concert this weekend and I haven't practiced any songs or dances!" Rouge smiled and said, "He's drunk. He drank too much blood,"  
Richi sniffed Eon's wild, serene scent before his eyes dhanged to a sad, depressing, blue color. He sobbed and wailed on the floor, screaming that he wanted his mommy and leaving them all (except for Rouge, Shade, Shadow, and Sky) to wonder what the hell was going on with him. "Uh, what the hell is wrong with him?" Amy asked. Then she remembered that whenever too much blood gets into his blood-thirsty system, he would have mood swings or just go plain crazy. "Like Rouge said, he has too much blood rushing through him," Sky informed her. Richi was soon running in circles with super speed, saying every kinda curse word there was. Shade closed up Eon's ears but she could still hear him plain as day. Amy and Rouge closed up Tails's ears and he looked horrified, almost scared. Then, he collapsed on the floor and panted rapidly. "What...the hell...just happened?"  
"You had mood swings, honey," Rouge got up and sat beside Richi.  
"Ya went nuts, kid," Amy was still surprised.  
"I'm not gonna comment on what I just saw 'cause that was..." Knuckles said not wanting to finish his sentence.  
Richi looked over at Eon and asked, "What...did I say to you?" She gulped at him and smiled and made up the first lie that popped in her mind, "Y-You said that we would be the bestest friends in the world!" Richi could see in her eyes that she was lying. "Oh, well, I hope we can!" He smiled, thinking he would tell her about this at the mall later on. Knuckles was on the brink of tears because he was laughing so hard in his mind. Richi sat up and looked at him. "I don't think that's very funny, Knux. I could've killed you all if I were in a really bad mood, you know?" They stopped and quit goofing around. "See, that shut you up, didn't it?" He put his hair up and Shadow shrugged when they gave him a confused look. "Hey, can we record these songs now? We already have the instrumentals," He looked at his dad and Shadow nodded. Sky beckoned the rest into the room filled with buttons. "Wow! A recording studio!" Sonic was about to press a button but Richi stopped him. "Don't touch anything. I mean anything and everything in this room," He sat on the other side of the glass an on a stool. Shadow turned everything on and placed the volume at an exceptional height. "Is that okay?" He asked, while playing the track. Richi nodded and his dad played the first track. 

Shadow recorded three songs and Richi took off his headphones. "I'll be right back..." He walked out and saw Knuckles and Rouge outside the door. "He's mine, Knuckles." Was all he heard, and all he needed to hear before he pulled his mother into a hug. (Wow, this is more emotional than I thought xD) She let tears come as Knuckles finally realized what she meant by Richi was hers. "You mean to tell me that…You and Shadow had sex and you got pregnant with two kids?" He was bewildered. She nodded, holding Richi in her arms. Shadow opened the door and peeked out of the window. "Here it comes," Sonic poked out the door, Shadow closing his ears. Knuckles just stared at Rouge with a 'how could you?' look on his face. "We fell in love before I even met you, got married, had kids, one kid dies, we divorce and I leave him," She let go of Richi and looked at Knuckles. "No, no, no. I kicked you outta the house and THEN you left me to care for Richard." Rouge shrugged at the correction. "Damn, Shadow, you know how to bang a girl." Sonic blurted out.  
"Great way to ruin the moment, Sonic," Silver bopped his head but Sonic only shrugged.  
Back in the recording room, Shade, Sky, and Eon sat in thought. "So you're saying that Shadow and Rouge got together years ago and Rouge became pregnant with two children?" Eon asked. Shade nodded and Sky explained, "We told Shadow that one of his children would die but he didn't believe us, which is why we started training Richi so he could protect his brother. Striker didn't get his powers until the age of three." Eon was flabbergasted. "Unfortunately, at the age of five, Striker was shot in the head when the bullet was actually headed for Richi."  
Knuckles lost it. He was full of rage and hate and revenge and sadness. "Y-You lied to me! You said it was your first time!" Rouge stepped closer to him with a finger pointed in his face. "Well, it's not my fault! I didn't know Richi was even alive! I thought both my sons were dead and I couldn't forget about Shadow after that because you reminded me of him!" Knuckles was taken aback. Richi looked at his mother and said, "You thought I was dead?" She nodded and apologized. Knuckles glared at Shadow and cursed under his breath. "Suck it up, you big baby," Richi stepped closer to Knuckles, poking his stomach. "Fine, I will suck it up," Knuckles left all eight of them standing there and walked to his room. "Harsh, and sucking it up sounds very wrong," Tails stated.  
"He'll get over it," Shade stepped out of the room, glaring at her brother. "Why do I have to?"  
"Because he'll listen to you, trust me," She folded her arms. He sighed, groaning at her. "It's actually kinda true, Shadow. You know Knuckles like you," Sonic added, half of them agreeing with him. Shadow blushed and Richi pushed him to the elevator with no problem. "Okay, okay, I'm going, calm down." He walked to the staircase and everyone followed him. They were going to the living room. "So, you're telling me that you and Shadow…" Amy trailed off. Rouge nodded and blushed. "Rouge, you are a dirty little girl!"  
On Shadow's floor, Knuckles packed up a few things in his mesh duffle bag and around his shoulder when he heard a voice behind him. "Where you going?" Shadow again, Knuckles walked past him and answered with a slight annoyance in his voice, "Leaving," Shadow walked next to him. "Where?" Knuckles hit him with something Shadow told him the day before. "Nonya,"  
"I'm not sure where Nonya is?" Oh, so you wanna be sarcastic, eh? Two can play at that game, Knuckles answered him with the most sarcastic thought on his mind at the moment, "Nonya, Business, California. Nonya is where I'm going. Business is the city Nonya resides in. And we're in California at the moment so I think you get the point now," Knuckles gave him a bitter look and walked off. Shadow had had enough. He grasped Knuckles hand really tight and Knuckles winced in pain, trying to get him to let go. "S-Shadow! That hurts!" Shadow loosened his grip a little. Knuckles was backed against the wall by Shadow's hands. He stuttered. Shadow smirked, Got 'cha. Knuckles tried to push him and grumbled, "Déjà vu," Shadow moved and took his bag. "You can't leave or you'll get hurt," Shadow had concern in his voice. "How do you know I'll get hurt? What if I don't? And why do you care?" Knuckles smirked at him as if he'd read his mind, Right back at 'cha! Shadow grinned and said, "Well, since I told you I had a small feeling for you, I guess I should care, don't 'cha think?" Knuckles blushed. "Damn you,"  
"You know you think I'm sexy," Shadow said with a playful tone. He growled with annoyance,  
"Shut up,"

After Richi explained everything to everyone about his mother, he made them promise that they wouldn't tell anyone. "So you are a GUN agent?" Tails asked. Rouge nodded and they all heard laughter. "Stop it! Stop! Shadow, I said stop!" Knuckles laughed hysterically as Shadow tickled him. "I don't want to say I told you so but…" Shade shrugged. Shadow told her to shut up. Rouge smiled at Knuckles and Shadow but they ignored her and continued playing around with Shade. "Hey, Daddy can I have my allowance now. I promised Eon I'd take her to the mall today," He pleaded and his dad handed him his five-hundred dollar allowance.  
"Five hundred dollars?" Sonic crawled over and counted Richi's money. "Hey, no touchy!" Richi grabbed his money and turned around to face his mama. "Mama! That bad man tried to steal my money!" He faked cried and everyone laughed as he hugged his mom. "Shh! It's okay, Richi-bear!" She called him by his old nickname. "Mama! Don't call me that any-!" Before he could finish his sentence, Rouge tackled him and started kissing his tanned cheeks. "Ma! Come on, we have guests!" He yelled but she didn't care. She kept kissing his cheeks until Richi laughed hysterically. "Daddy! Get this woman off of me! Ha-ha!" Shadow was tickling his bare stomach and he was trying his best to swat his father's hand away. "Watch out, Richard! Mr. Tickles is in da' hood!" He tickled his son and everyone laughed. Rouge stopped kissing his cheeks and played with them, making Richi blush ever so energetically. "Sorry, baby, I hadn't had a kiss in a while. I remember when you had those big chubby cheeks and you tried biting your brother's off." Richi stopped laughing and smiled. "Yeah, I remember you told us that story. And that was definitely not a kiss. It was two hundred million kisses," Shadow smirked at him and rubbed his head. "Aw, that's adorable. You guys must've had a great relationship with each other, Richi," Amy supposed. Richi smiled warmly and nodded. "Yup," He stood up and stretched, his small shirt exposing some gnarly (Notice I said GNARLY) curves and abs for a boy his age. "You have six-pack already?" Tails was envious. "What? I got healthier over the years. And from training," Mostly everyone didn't understand. "Richi was born three months premature," Shade saw those expressions and told them. "Oh,"  
"Yeah…Anyways, I'm going to take a shower." Richi walked upstairs and got in the shower while Shade took Eon into her room. "A-Auntie Shade! What are you doing?" Shade pulled her into the room and opened her closet door. "We've got one hour to get you downstairs, okay? Choose whatever outfit and I'll judge it with my…uh, helper! I'm outside the door," She closed the door and Eon looked around the humongous walk-in closet. It was big enough to fit a one hundred inch plasma flat-screen TV. "Wow, I'm standing in Shadle Paris Meeca's closet!" She looked in the aisles of shoes. There were pumps of every color, wedges of every shade, flip flops, heels, and tennis shoes, name any shoes and she had it. She found some cute little wedges. "Five and a half, five and a half," Eon looked for the size and picked it out. The wedges were plaid and had three different colors; brown, aqua blue, and white. She looked in the clothes and found a cute outfit and tried it on. Too tight! Quickly taking that off, she found an even cuter outfit. It was a long-sleeved, turquoise shirt. She looked for some baggy jeans and found some white ones. The girl tried them on and they fit perfectly. "All set," She poked her head out to find Shade sitting on her bed with her younger brother. "You ready?" Shade turned to her. She shyly nodded and slowly emerged from the closet. Sky looked at her and almost passed out. Shade lowered her gaze and quietly laughed to herself. "First off, the outfit is just hideous," Sky flat out told her the truth. She blushed and stated that she hasn't gone to a mall in so long so she didn't know what to choose. "Yeah, you haven't gone to the mall since your sister's death," Shade stood up and guided her back, "Now, these clothes are just hideous, so you're gonna take those pants off and try these on." Shade handed her some white skinny jeans and she blushed. "Oh, come on, Eon! We're both women!" Eon turned around and unzipped her pants, quickly pulling the skinny jeans over her calves and above her knees. Shade observed and took mental notes. "Okay, now that you've tried the clothes on, it's time to take a shower. Come with me," The girls walked to her master bathroom. It was nice and big with white tiles, a bath fit for three, a spacious double-sink, and a linen closet the size of her tub that was filled with towels, cloths, and other sanitary items. The walls were a creamy color, like her skin. The crown moldings ran around the room, creating a hexagon shape. "This bathroom is beautiful!" Shade turned the bath water on and the warm stream of water flowed out. "Here you go, Eon. I'll be in to wash your hair in a minute," Shade smiled while handing some soap and a cloth to her. Eon nodded and dipped her head under the water. When she came back up, she noticed Shade had left her alone to wash. She hummed as she soaked in the soap. Her muscles relaxed as she sank lower into the water, blowing the bubbles away from her skin. Pulling her legs towards her, she grabbed some soap from the side of the tub. She hummed, poured liquid shower gel onto her cloth, and gently placed the cloth on her soft skin, sliding it back and forth. Washing her arms, scrubbing her stomach, cleaning her neck, and scouring her other spots until Shade walked back with hair supplies. "Are you almost finished?" Eon nodded slowly and rinsed herself of the soap. Shade walked to her with a towel wrapped around her body. "Okay, I'm gonna take a bath, too, if you don't mind,"  
"No problem at all," Eon smiled warmly.  
Shade smirked and took the shampoo from the linen closet before she unwrapped her towel from her body and unveiling her matured body. Eon looked down and blushed when Shade rested her body in the water. "No need to be nervous, Eon. I've practically got the same stuff you have, I'm just more matured." There was a small gleam in her eyes as Shade directed her to turn around so she could put some shampoo on the girl's hair. "I know," She giggled it off her shoulders and turned around. Shade grabbed the shampoo bottle from the side bar, squeezing so that the substance would ooze out of the container. "Um, Auntie Shade?"  
"What is it, Hun?" She stopped rubbing her hair with cream and listened for the question. "Do you think Knuckles and Shadow would be mates? Or just good friends?"  
Eon could feel her movements from behind and the woman answered hesitantly, "I don't…know for sure…It's their decision. Maybe I'll get a vision soon,"  
"Hm,"

"Hey, is this nice?" He walked out of his closet. "Hell no, that's a concert outfit, boy," Shadow shook his head. It was rare that Richi asked his father for advice, but he was going out alone and he wanted it to be perfect. "So, where are you two going?" Shadow asked sitting on his bed with arms folded. "I was thinking we could go see a movie after shopping…then maybe go to the arcade and play some games…Then we might go get some food, depending on if we're hungry or not,"  
"Aw, that's so cute!" Rouge stepped in the room when Richi was changing his clothes. He was wearing some white and blue Jordan's with a white guard rash and some black skinny jeans. "Ma, can you at least knock?" He complained gruffly. "Hey, I've seen my son naked before!" She walked up and sat at Shadow's side. "Ma!" He blushed. She chuckled as he took blow dryer and dried his wet hair. He hummed. Shadow smirked. Rouge folded her arms. "Hey…I never asked you this before, but…do you ever think of me whenever I'm gone?" Rouge looked at Shadow with a sincere look in her eyes. Shadow looked down at her with an expressionless face. "Sometimes, not on a regular basis. Every time I look at Richi, I get a flashback of you when you're annoyed or sad or scared," He looked away. Rouge rested her head on his shoulder and he exhaled. "How long?" He asked, placing his hand softly on her head. "What you mean?"  
"You know what I mean, Rouge, and don't pretend you don't 'cause you do. How long?" Shadow asked.  
"How long have I thought of you?"  
"Yes. How long?"  
"Since I left. I knew from the second I stepped into that pod that I was making a mistake but I didn't know what the hell I would do when I got to earth…" She was honest. Shadow looked down at her and she looked up at him. "Really now?"  
"Yes, honey," She kissed his cheek and stood up as Richi walked out the bathroom. "Oh dear, don't tell me they back together. I thought you and Knuckles were meant to be, damnit!" He cursed. They laughed. "No, Richi, we're not together anymore. Just reminiscing together."

"Okay,E, you're done, hun." Shade let her get up and she fixed the strands of teal hair that were in her face. "Arigatou, Shade-san," She thanked her and Shade shook her head. "No problem, honey," Eon's hair was still in its natural curl/straight state but Shade added a few more curls to make it look better. "Here's a white clip and a rubber band just in case you wanna put it up in a bun." Shade handed her the rubber band and clip, leading her into the mirror to see her full outfit. Her hair was curly. The long sleeves of her shirt hand been cut, exposing her arms fully. "Now all you need is some lip gloss and you are good to go," Shade handed her some lip gloss and Eon smacked her lips after rubbing some on.

It was seven thirty they met in the living room. Richi was ready and so was Eon. "You look beautiful, Eon," Richi complimented her outfit and her other features. "Thank you, Richi. You look rather handsome tonight," She smiled. He blushed at her remark and she giggled. "Okay, you know the rules; be home by nine," Shadow handed him a coat and Shade handed Eon a sweater. "Alright, Daddy. I'll see you guys later when we get back," Richi waved before they exited. "Oh, and open the garage for me," He said before closing the door. "Okay, you guys have fun!" Rouge waved as she opened the garage door. "What's in here?" Eon looked around in the darkness, seeing two cars, a bike, and many extreme gear boards up on the wall. "We're taking my board instead of using our own," He picked it up gently and made sure it was okay to ride. "This is my board. I haven't figured out a name yet," He dropped it and it began hovering in mid-air. "Ladies first," The young white-haired boy held out his hand and she grasped it, stepping onto the board. It was big and had enough room for two. Richi jumped on and gripped the handles. It was in a scooter shape but without wheels. "Wow, this is nice," Eon smiled. "I built it myself," He answered smugly. "Cool!"  
They zoomed off into the darkness of the night, heading straight to the highway where they would get off at the Ames boulevard exit. To the mall, they went.

**Uh…Yeah…kinda angsty..**


	11. Richi's Training

**Knuxadow High School Part 9 – (Richard's PoV)**

_**Richi's Training**_

We entered the courtyard of the Mall. Eon shivered and rubbed her arm full of goosebumps. "You okay?" I asked with a concerned tone to my voice. "Yes, I'm fine." She answered when we walked in the big building. The stores were packed, the food court was full, and the movie theater line was long. "Jeez, this place is chock-full. Where do you wanna go first?"

"I don't really know. How about there; everything's half-price?" She pointed. I figured I'd go so I don't just stand here and wait; wouldn't make me look so weird. "You sure?"

She nodded with certainy and went ahead, leaving me to walk slowly towards the shop. I caught a few glances of some older chicks as I passed and went into the "clothes wonderland". They giggled and I smirked to myself. The door opened and a bell rang loudly in my ears.

Music played from a stereo on the counter where a dark scrawny-looking mid-twenties dude sat on an old stool. He leaned onto the countertop with his chin rested on his skin. "Hi there." I smiled faintly and he double took me. "Hey, doll face, what's your name?" He looked interested (not in the lovey dovey way, you perverts) while talking to me. "I'm Richard, but just call me Richi. Hey, did you see a teal-headed girl walk in here? 'Bout this tall, that skinny, real cutie." I did hand motions to add a little emphasis to make my point.

"Yep, she went into the fitting room about five seconds before you walked in. Is that your girlfriend?" He asked, giving me a questioning look. "No way! We just friends…really good ones; known 'er since third grade. I'm in seventh grade now."

"Right…you're cute, kid. Smart one, too. How old are you?"

"Eleven bout to be twelve in May; May nineteenth. Well, that's when I'll be twelve."

"And you're in seventh grade? Wow, you really are smart." I nodded and shrugged it off. "Your friends must be jealous over the girl."

"Nope. She's more of the shy, quiet one. I like her some. She's pretty to me. These girls in a couple of my classes named Brittany and Taylor both like me, too." I have to admit Eon is kinda cute. Then I hear footsteps coming from the fitting room and turned to see her looking at me.

"Well?" She waited patiently for my response. I half-smiled and nodded, "That's nice; I like it. You want me to buy it for ya?"

She shook her head, "As much as I love this outfit and how much I would love to buy it…it doesn't look very good on me…"

"Are you blind? It's looks fine on you!" I complimented; she blushed.

"Low self-esteem, I see. I can see why, though."

"We're buying it."

"But-" she was beginning to protest.

"Eon," I raised an eyebrow and smiled. She went to change her outfit once again, closing the door behind her.

The guy at the desk chuckled. "You two make the cutest couple ever! I definitely see a future for you."

"O-Oi; I already told you we're just friends!" I could feel my face go red.

"Uh-huh, right…" Before we both knew it, Eon had already come out of the fitting rooms and was ready to go. "Here you go, doll face," the guy rang it up and handed the clothes to us in a bag.

"Thank you very much," she responded while taking the bag.

"You're welcome, Hun. You guys have a good night," he waved at us before we walked out of the door.

Well, it was truly rather awkward just strolling through the mall, looking for something to do. I looked at a few signs…of myself, and I just had to laugh. "Honestly, I think that picture of me wasn't very good. The photo shoots I go to are fun, though."

"What are they like?" She asked as we passed through by Game Stop and Foot Locker. I thought for a moment, then answered, "Well, normally, if it's a PSSS album, the makeup artists will put some eye shadow and extra mascara to make me look all gothic and crap since it's, you know, gothic…and dark. If it's for my album pictures, then I'll just wear some nice clothes and dance to while they take shots. It's generally the same for a few regular ones."

"Wow…must be tiring; having to go everywhere and do all these things like concerts and interviews."

"Eh…kinda; other times it's great 'cause I can see all the cool sights. I'll see if I can take you on tour next time."

"But we have school all the time; how do you manage to make up all those days you missed?"

"That's when private tutors come in; you know how I don't go to after-care as much?"

"Yeah; why?"

"I have tutoring after school, so the work I have that day in tutoring is the work you have the very next day in class. Most of the staff already knows my situation, and we talked to the school board about it, so I'm basically excused from class each day I'm absent."

"That seems…very complicated." She stated flatly. We happened to walk by a store filled in with hats, sunglasses, and even shoes.

"Yeah, I guess; why don't we stop in there for a minute? We could check out the stuff they got." I suggested and made my way to the entrance. She followed behind with her bags and looked in the window. A couple of adults walked around in there, so I nonchalantly strode right in, both hands in my two pant pockets. Eon slipped straight through the doors and pursued me. I stopped right in front of those funny mirrors, noticing I looked like a short, fat pre-pre-teen.

Eon chuckled quietly and I pulled her next to me, making her look like a short and fat kid as well. I laughed and her face flushed. "You look so cute like that!" I spoke through laughter.

"And you look fat!" She retorted, pointing to the reflection of me. I noticed some people started to stare at us. Hey, two kids in a clothing store laughing about their reflections _does _seem kinda weird, don't it?

I stopped laughing and intently glared at her. She brought her giggling to a close and apologized, "I'm sorry, Richi-san, I didn't mean that!" Then she started waving her hands by her shoulders to represent she was just being flippant. I held back another laugh and felt the sides of my mouth curve up.

"Oi, oi, oi; I was just playin' wit'cha!" She calmed down and sighed.

"Oh, gomen."

Music blasted from the speakers on the ceiling and I ran for the nearest hat rack, pulling off a hat that reminded me of Michael Jackson. I tipped it at the teal haired girl in front of me and grabbed for another hat, placing it on her head. She began to blush every shade of red, making me chuckle.

I pulled her in front of a mirror and she glanced at herself. "Wow, I look like a teal-headed female version of Michael Jackson."

"Ha-ha…Hey, let's try on some clothes!" I proposed. She deliberated for a second and nodded, so we grabbed a few outfits and zoomed into the fitting rooms. Within minutes, we'd both opened the doors and strolled out. "You look awesome, Richi!"

"I could say the same to you!" I had on some pallid skinnies with a V-neck and a pair of slick, black shades with a button-down shirt over that. Eon had on a plain, black tee and a plaid, light blue scarf with a brown button-down as well. She had some new fifty dollar shades to cover her eyes and a glistening bracelet on her left wrist.

We stood in the mirror and posed to the music on the radio. Then we started dancing and hadn't realized that others were gawking at us making so much noise. I laughed when Eon flicked a hand at them all and did a shoulder wipe. She giggled until we saw someone walk up to us and say, "Okay, if you can't calm down, I'm gonna have to ask you to leave this store; I'm getting complaints from customers and they aren't so happy. Are you even gonna pay for those items?"

I cleared my throat and spoke clearly, "Um, no, sorry." And we exchanged glances before walking back to change.

In the end, we got kicked out 'cause the stupid manager thought we were being 'obnoxious'. I walked with my hands in my pockets; we passed by the arcade.

"Hey, you wanna go in?"

"Sure," Eon smiled. I noticed she was actually quite different outside of school. Like, she never smiles meaningfully, even in front of her friends. But then again, I never hung out with her; Brittany and her crew would always pull me away, and I'd end up hangin' out with her at lunch.

To the arcade we went, and like I said earlier, it was super crammed out. The very first game I played was the legendary Mrs. Pac Man; Eon took the regular one. Within three minutes, she lost.

"Aw yeah, baby; I rule at this game." I grinned and pressed madly at the buttons, moving the controller to the left and back to the right.

"Oh, air hockey's open! Let's go there!" Eon jumped and shook my arm.

"_Un momento_ _por favor, Eon,"_ I held up a finger, continuing, "Playing Mrs. Pac Man takes time. Give me…two minutes and I'll be done, and then we can go play air hockey, okay?"

She nodded slowly and watched me closely. I moved the controller up and down, side to side, Ms. Pac Man dodge the enemy. "And if I bring 'er round here, she'll get the fruit or whatever, and take it…and eat him…you…and…done!" I got of the stool and we strolled over to air hockey. I put four tokens in and instantaneously felt the cold air pierce my skin.

"Looks like you were concentrating on that Pac Man game." She had the puck, placing right in front of the goal, "I've never seen someone so…what's the word…"

"Engrossed, engulfed, absorbed, engaged, captivated…" I gave her a few examples with a chuckle. She nodded, hitting the puck with her…whatever that thing was called. The black, plastic puck hit the side and recoiled, steadily moving in my direction. "Oh, no you don't…BAM!" and I sent it zooming into the goal, giving me a point.

"We have these at home, also the racecar one and the motorbikes."

"Richi, you have everything you could dream of. I totally envy you." Eon poked out her lip and sighed. "I lost everything; my sister, my brother, my dad. All I have is my mom, but I rarely see her because she works overnight."

"I'm sorry, E, but I know how you feel; I lost my brother when I was six, my mom divorced my dad after that, and I moved to Japan, while my dad stayed at the Ark. And Ma moved somewhere else. I haven't made any contact until…a week ago. And I never saw my dad until…_a week ago._" I watched as the puck zigzagged towards me again, and I tried to get, but I only ended up pushing it into my goal, "But, I've learned to get over Striker's passing with your help. At least I have a friend who's been in the same situation."

"I guess…my sister and I would always come to this mall." Eon smiled faintly.

"Me and my bro would always come to this arcade when we were little. And he would always beat me at racecar driving, even though we both sucked eggs at the game." The score was tied as of now, and we only had about a minute before the game ended. We kept hitting the puck back and forth until the clock said we had ten seconds left. Eon sent the puck zooming towards me, but I hit it back into her goal easily.

"Looks like I won. But you're not half bad at air hockey." I told her, earning a tint of red across her cheeks. She coughed awkwardly, and changed the subject, "Hey, let's go to the motorbikes."

"Okay," I got on one bike and twisted the handle, moving side to side to make sure it worked cleanly, "Hop on, Eon," I offered, but she shyly declined because of her clothes bag. "Oh, come on; just set the bag on the side, no one'll steal it, and if they do, they get a beating from me," I cracked my knuckles, "Simple as that; jump on," and I pat the extra space in front of my legs. She placed the bag beside our red motorbike and took a seat ahead of me. She gripped the handle and I placed my hands over her intertwining our fingers so I could get a clutch on them in addition.

Resting my head on her shoulder to see, I chose a bike on the screen, picked the level of difficulty, and chose a course. She shivered slightly at the fact that I was brushing against her, and I chuckled. "Have you ever played on one of these, E?"

"Yeah, maybe…maybe once or twice; I always end up running over people or going backwards."

"How about we work together on this one? I'll move the bike, and you work the handles, eh?"

"Deal, but," she began, "don't Canadians normally say 'eh'?"

"Eh…It's a habit…" I laughed.

We were on the second lap when I felt my phone rumble in my pocket. I let go of the handle, unwiring my fingers from Eon's. Moving my hips to turn the bike I answered it, "Talk to me; oh, hey, Dad. It's going great; we're at the arcade right now riding the bikes; yeah. I don't know. Okay, I'll call later; jā ne," and I hung up, still managing to keep the bike on track.

"Was that your dad?"

"Yeah, he was just checking in on us. Final lap, and we're in third; not half bad for a third time rider like you." I joked. She laughed, riding up on a boost pad and passing another checkpoint. The bike in front of us sped around the winding circle and we followed right on his tail. The finish line could be seen on the screen, and Eon used a special boost we had, passing into second place.

She grumbled as the first placemen rode over the finish line. We went by as second and finished the race. "Well, that sucks, but we did well." I gave her a thumbs up, and then heard a low grumble in her stomach, "Wanna grab some grub?" and she nodded her head full of turquoise hair vigorously.

She picked up her bag and we walked out of the arcade together, "Here, I'll carry those for you." I took the bags and she stretched her fingers, giving me a smile. I nodded and we walked to the food court. E looked at the options and calculated all them down in her mind. The lowest meal was from Sabarro's.

She ordered a large slice of pepperoni and sausage pizza with cheese filled crust and a small water. I just stuck with a small slice of cheese pizza, a sprite, an order of twelve Mcnuggets, and a small box of fries. We sat down and I handed her a napkin. She picked up the pizza and took a big bite out of it. "Whoa, you must be hungry. We should go see a movie after this," I ate a fry.

She shrugged, chewing another bite and taking a sip of water. I ate a nugget and looked intoher turquoise eyes. "Eon," I asked, "Why are you so nervous?"

"What do you mean?" She pulled up a fake smile. Does she seriously think that's gonna work with me?

"I think you know what I mean, E. You're always so tense when you're around me, and it makes me feel like I'm doing something wrong. You stutter, you blush, you shivered when I was behind you on the bikes…Am I intimidating?"

"No, no, no, you're not intimidating. I just don't get to see you a lot, so when you're around–which is very rare–it's like I can't really say anything without sounding so stupid."

"Oh." I said, blushing and eating a nugget with some sauce. There was some silence following our conversation, and I broke it when I finished my food. Eon had finished her food, but I guess she was waiting on me, "Well, I guess we can see a movie now…"

"Yeah, what should we see?" She asked as we walked to the theater, and passed the bathroom on the way.

"I don't know…Hey, I gatta use the bathroom, I'll be right back," I turned to the little boy's room. She nodded, and sat down on a bench. I walked into the restrooms and did my business. About five minutes later, I walked out and saw a familiar face. Lime green hair, purple irises, evil smirk.

"Brittany," I really didn't know if I said that or if Eon said it, but she heard it and turned in my direction. Guess I said it.

"Richi!" _Glomp._

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…Hey, Britt. Glomp-ish, much?"

"I missed you…" she nuzzled her nose on my cheek.

"Brittany, it's only been about a week since I've seen you." She frowned and laid her head on my chest.

"I don't care…I can't go a day without seeing _my_ Richi's face," I could see her evilly glare over at Eon.

"Ha," I chuckled nervously and she let go of me, "Well, it was nice talkin' to ya, but we gatta roll out. Eon," I kinda pushed her back and she turned to Eon again to mouth something. Eon froze. She laughed as her sisters followed her.

"What a loser, and I can't believe Richi actually hangs with such an ugly girl." I could hear her say that, and then she turned once again and blew me a kiss, "Bye, Richikku,"

I shivered and turned to Eon, who was still sitting. "Come on before the lines get to long again." I grabbed her hand and pulled her close to me. She trembled and tensed.

Together we walked to the theater and got in line to see Saw 3D. Eon was hesitant for a moment, but I reassured her it was just a movie and that Jigsaw Killer and the puppet weren't really real. She reluctantly followed me to the snack counter and we bought a medium sized bag of popcorn just in case we got hungry again. And I brought a bottle of blood with me so I could have something to drink.

We walked to the theater room and just before I opened the door, she stopped dead in her tracks.

"What's wrong? Come on, before the movie starts." I tugged her arm, already hearing the previews begin. She didn't budge. "Eon, come on…come on." I pulled her into the door and rushed to the seat in time for the very beginning. "Why are you so scared?"

"I don't like Saw movies," she mumbled quickly.

"What?"

I leaned closer to hear her mumble again, "I don't like Saw movies…"

"Oh, come on, it's not real, ya know? All of this crap is fake." I chuckled again.

"I know, but…they're scary." She told me. Oh, wow. She thinks this is _scary? _Just wait until she sees what happens in the future. Saw will be like a walk in the park! Well, not so much as a walk in the park, but Saw would be the least of E's worries.

So the movie started and I put on my 3D glasses. I looked over at my "date" (as my dad called it) and chuckled. She had her eyes closed tight, and her hand gripping the arm rest tightly. I don't think she was gonna let go, either.

"Eon, you're not gonna use the glasses?"

"It'll make me look funny." She muttered and I chuckled again.

"I think," I paused to think of what word I should use, "I think it makes you look cute."

"But, Richi, I-" She blushed as I slipped my hand under hers, giving it a slight squeeze.

"It'll be okay. I'm with you." I smiled at Eon, red tinting my cheeks.

"T-Thanks, Richi." She smiled.

So, we sat in the theater for another hour and a half, and every five minutes Eon would close her eyes and squeeze my hand in fear. I would just laugh at the people gettin' their heads cut off, and their bodies torn apart.

In the end, we walked out of the movie theater and headed home. "It's almost time for training. We gatta get home so we'll just use the Chaos Emerald for now. Come with me."

-Back to third person-

"You're home early," Sky said as the children both walked in the door, noticing everyone sitting on the couch next to each other.

"Uh-huh." Richi shrugged.

"Richi…" Shadow stood and gave him a reminding look.

"Hm, yeah?" his son answered.

"Training, simulator, five minutes. Skyler, he's yours tonight."

"I know." He answered.

"Shadow, when are you gonna tell us about training?" Amy asked, voice dripping in desperation.

"Right now; follow me." He responded. Everyone quickly followed behind him and they all went to the basement.

"Whoa! This room is huge!" Sonic said.

"Hooray! Let's give you an award for stating the obvious!" Knuckles applauded sarcastically.

Shadow gave a low chuckle and led them all to the observation deck. "Okay, take a seat, take a seat."

The group followed and sat down. Shadle and Skyler were the only ones standing.

"I'm not gonna tell you everything until I decide you're ready to know, so I'm just gonna lay down a few things," Shadow said, "This room is what we all call the training room. It's where we, uh, duel, workout; learn new battle techniques, all that chizz."

Shadle added, "You'll get to see Richi for the first time battle against Skyler in the simulator, and it can work three ways. One, Richi can choose a terrain to battle on. Two, he can choose obstacles. Or three, he can just duel on the default simulator ground."

The younger brother cleared his throat and spoke calmly, "You should all have weapons that suit your attribute and you characteristics. For instance, Knuckles has his favorite spiked gloves. Amy has her hammer, and I have three types of swords and two of each, if that even makes sense."

"You can use those in the simulator, as well. However, I'll have to take them from you for a while to modify them." Richi folded his arms and stood up.

"Oh, can I help since I'm good with mechanics?" Tails beamed.

"Sure, I could use some assistance to make it go smoothly without blowing the house up." Richi smiled widely. "Alright, it's nine. I gatta get started. See you guys."

"Bye, Richi," everyone waved and went to the window as Skyler and his nephew walked to the mat.

Richi pulled his shirt over his head and kicked off his shoes. Skyler walked over to a rack on the wall to his left. Richi grabbed a mug of blood and popped it open, gulping the blood down and throwing the bottle away somewhere.

Sonic watched closely as his friend picked up two identical swords. That was what he meant when he said he had three pairs of identical blades. He sharpened them both until they could be sharpened no more and turned toward his nephew, who stood at the end of the large room.

"Hey, Shadow, do you think it's okay for Richi to be out there all alone? I mean he could get hurt; just look at how sharp Sky's weapons are!" Sonic exclaimed, minor agreements were here among the group.

Knuckles watched closely at the shirtless vampire, who just had a solemn face on. He was about to ask something, but Shadow answered, "He'll be fine, just watch. Richard is stronger than you think. Do you guys honestly think that I would put my _son _on the battlefield and not have him prepared?"

He trembled madly and slowly dropped to his knee. He grasped his head. His irises began shifting from a light turquoise blue to a deep crimson red. The boy's sharp fangs grew even longer and sharper.

"He's changing…" Knuckles murmured, images of Shadow reappearing in mind when he was milliseconds away from being crushed by a wall.

Eon inched closer to the window and kept her eyes on him, "Richi."

The boy growled and slowly stood.

"Are you ready to begin?" Skyler called, pulling on some old, tattered gloves that exposed almost half of each of his fingers.

Richard hissed and let his wings unfold.

"Richi has wings?" Amy asked.

"What vampire has wings these days?" Silver added.

"Many don't, actually, but wings run in my family," Rouge answered quietly, eyes gleaming, "I don't have wings, but his grandfather does. Not many vampires are born with wings, but legends say that one with wings is sure to lead the vampire race one day."

"Does that mean he'll become a prince or something?" Amy asked another question, "And can you explain how you and Shadow had kids, but you're only seventeen? You would've lost your virginity at…"

"Shadow and I…" Rouge looked past her redheaded boyfriend and at her ex-husband for help.

"That story will be for another time." He said flatly. "But either way, Richi won't be a prince because of me."

Knuckles' ears perked up, "Why because of you?"

"I'm not a vampire, and in order to be a prince, you have to be born from royalty, or just high in status. I don't have a high status, nor is Rouge royalty."

Richard rose into the air, wings flapping slowly. Skyler flexed his hand and tiny electric sparks flew from his hand. He hissed again. Lowly he growled, "Do you want warm ups or just a duel?"

"I want to teach a few new things, but first warm up. Harness some of your power into bits and pieces and hold it for ten seconds, and then begin to expand and contract it. Then I want you to go Ultimate and hold it up for fifteen seconds and expand and contract."

Richi nodded and closed his eyes. Eon watched as his body loosened up and he breathe through his nostrils. Slowly, he managed to create a small ball of light blue energy. It swirled in his palm like fire and danced across his body.

"What is that?" Knuckles pointed.

"It's some of his power harnessed into one small ball of energy." Shadle answered.

Everyone sat for a few more seconds before Richi aimed the energy ball for Skyler. He dodged just in time as the blue ball shot loudly by his blonde hair. The blonde smiled, "You're getting better at that."

"Thank you." The vampire muttered before getting in his battle stance. He looked as Skyler, who nodded in approval.

With a loud blast, Richard let go of all of the energy within him. Sonic and Amy had to look away because the light was son blinding. Knuckles thought it was just like the energy ball multiplied by…at least one hundred. Just as Sky ordered, Richard began to expand the waves of energy and contract them constantly. That exercise ended and they began to really train.

Skyler ran, with his weapon up, towards his nephew and slashed at him. Richard back-jumped three times and dodged when the blonde thrust downward instead of side to side. Richard tried to drop-kicked his opponent, but the blonde grabbed his ankle and let electricity flow from his inner soul to his hand and into Richi.

Richi shrieked as loud as he could as soon as he felt the huge sting of electricity piercing his leg. Skyler flung him toward the humans on the other side of the glass window, who'd duck for cover from the soon-to-be glass attack.

"Don't worry," Shadow said just as Richi hit the wall and slid down, "the window is made of a really hard substance that impossible to break unless forced by supersonic sound waves."

"That's great, Richi. Keep up this good work and you'll be just as strong as me." Skyler grinned, helping Richard up.

"Thank you." Richard smirked, standing and flexing his wings, "But, we still have a lot of work that needs to be done." He looked back at everyone staring at him in amazement. They all rushed out of the observation deck and crowded around him.

"Dude! That was awesome! How did you do that?" Sonic asked.

"Richi, I didn't think you were that strong!" Amy's eyes were the size of saucers.

"Richikku, you never told me about this new power!" Eon jumped.

"Yeah, I just recently learned to control it before it controlled me," He answered, "Up until a few weeks ago, whenever I tried to work with it, it would always get the better of me and I ended up breaking something by accident. I accidently let it out during class one day, but it didn't harm anyone."

"Wow! You have to teach me how to do that!" Knuckles said.

"I'm afraid we can't. The power is only given to some. It's not something someone can learn. I was born this way."

"Oh," Knuckles' excitement left.

"Don't worry, Knux," Shadow patted his back and smiled brightly, "We'll teach how to do better things."

"Really?" he asked.

"Yeah…" Shadow smiled again.

There was a silence among them, until Sky broke it. "It's getting a little late, and we should all get some shut-eye. You'll definitely need it for Monday."

"What's on Monday?" Amy asked.

"_You _begin your training." Shade replied.

"And _we'll _be teaching you." Shadow added with an evil grin.

OoO

"You still need to sleep with me, Eon? Oh, crap, that sounded very wrong." Richard asked as they walked up the stairs. Neither knew why they didn't just take the elevator.

"No, I'll be fine." She answered quietly.

"You sure?" He asked, and she nodded, "Okay. Just call me if you need anything." Richard looked at Eon from his door and she did the same.

"…I will." The teal haired girl smiled.

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**A/N:**

**It has been a while…I owe you guys, like, ten chapters already, but I've been so busy with school and band practice and writing other stories. At one point, I was telling myself to delete this story and move on, but I know a few people who like this story and it would kinda disappoint them if I got rid of this one. But how can I? The **_**Knuxadow High School **_**project has been in continuation for almost two years and I think it's about time to finish it.**

**Next chapter: **_**Knuckles does research on Shadow and his family, everyone goes swimming outside, and Shadow reveals a little more about his past.**_


	12. Preparation

**Knuxadow High School Part 10 - **

_**Preparation**_

_**Inside o**__**f Richard's Lab (8:12 am)**_

Richard sat at his lab computer and yawned. "Javry," he said.

"Yes, sir?" a computer voice responded quickly.

"What's that status for Underdog's update?" Richard asked, typing in words on a computer.

"Underdog's update is almost complete, sir." The computer replied.

"I need a percentage." Richard looked closely at the computer screen and walked to the glass table near gadgets and gismos. He pulled a huge box from underneath the table and took out what it contained: a shiny tablet, two wrenches (one small, one large), and a pair a goggles, a blowtorch, and a few other tools.

"Ninety-three point three percent, sir."

"Thanks, Jav. Keep me posted on that. And where's my screwdriver?" He took off the screen for the tablet and gently placed it on the side.

"On the counter by the Attribute Scanner, sir." Javry answered, one mechanical arm reached over and brought it over to his creator's side.

"Thank you; that's all I need for now. Do me a favor, take out your hard drive and give it to me." The vampire ordered his assistant.

"But, sir-!" Javry began to disapprove.

"Javry, do as I say. I need to make a copy of your hard drive's memories so I can make a portable version of you."

"Yes, sir." The mechanical arms pulled back and disappeared behind the computer. There was a loud click and Richard could hear the hard drive being pulled out of Javry and placed slowly onto the table beside him.

"I'll put the hard drive back in once the all memory is copied. But for now, I want you to rest while I work out the bugs in your system." Richard spoke, stopping to slip his computer's hard drive into a cube-like object. "Start scan." He said, and a blue beam of light rolled over the object twice.

"Scan complete." the screen said.

"Copy the hard drive's memory and fix any problems. Keep me posted on that, as well."

"Yes, Richard." The voice responded obediently.

Richard sighed and wiped his eyes. His ears perked as he heard movement in his laboratory. Turning around he saw the familiar teal haired girl standing by the door.

"Oh, it's just you, E." he smiled softly.

"Yeah…" she answered lowly. "Some place this is…" she looked around and the boy blushed.

"Yeah–made most of this myself." He smiled.

"That's neat. So, what'cha doin' now?"

"Making a portable version of Javry," he mumbled. "What's the status of the hard drive's copy?" He called.

Twenty percent was the answer.

"I need to finish the exterior so it can be done by the end of today." Richard strolled past his teal haired friend and walked to the table with the incomplete exterior for Javry Version 2.0.

"Wow, that's a lot of work to do." Eon said with a monotone voice.

"No, not really. I began working on this invention this morning."

"You're fast." She sighed.

Richard looked up at his best friend and asked, "Why the long face?"

"I don't know…just…I don't know." She muttered, sitting on a counter. Richard came and sat next to her, placing a hand on her shoulder. He looked at her eyes and just saw sadness and frustration.

"Eon, what's wrong?" he pressed.

"I told you, I don't know!" she snapped. Richi's hand moved away and he apologized for asking. Eon sat and looked at her hands, "I'm sorry..."

"No, it's okay." There was a peculiar silence between them as Richard concluded that discussion. That was until he again broke it and asked her what was on his mind, "Hey, you, uh…you ever been on a date?"

"No."

"Had a BF?"

"No." She answered with a slight crack in her voice.

"Have you ever even kissed a boy on the lips?" Richard frowned.

"…No…I have not. Why are you asking me these questions?" she questioned him instead.

"Just wanted to know. I've never been kissed on the lips nor had a girlfriend either." He sighed, swinging his legs.

"Oh…" Eon could help but chuckle.

"…So, uh, yeah…" Richard smiled faintly and they looked each other in the eyes.

She was being oddly shy today, he thought.

He didn't even realize how slowly he was drawing closer to his friend. Eon didn't, either, but she's didn't care. They still stared each other in the eyes, not daring to look away. Both felt too mesmerized to even blink.

His finger trailed across her hand and he felt them join together slowly.

Eon managed to swallow. Their lower lips were touching and they slowly began to press at each other's mouth. Eon had a huge red tint on her baby cheeks as Richi cradled her face gently. He nibbled on her bottom lip lightly.

What was he doing? He was half-making-out with his best friend, that's what. He was too young for that! But for someone who's never kissed on the lips, she was a _good_ kisser. They were interrupted a knock on the lab door. Quickly Richi pulled away from Eon just as his father walked in. "H-Hey, Dad."

"Morning, kiddos, I came to tell you that breakfast is ready." Shadow smiled faintly.

"Okay, we'll be down in a minute." Richard answered, untying his hair and sliding his goggles from his forehead as Shadow left.

"Hard drive copy is complete," came the voice from the computer.

"Oh, great." He rushed to the scanner and took out the original hard drive. Gently he took the small computer chip-shaped object and placed it in the slot for Javry 2.0. Taking the hard drive, he placed it back into the main computer.

The computer's light came back on and the manly voice sounded, "Javry at your service, sir."

"Got enough rest, Jav?" Richard asked with a chuckle.

"Yes, sir. Underdog's update is complete, sir." Javry responded.

"Great work. I want you to finish making the exterior for me while I grab some grub."

"Yes, sir."

_**Kitchen (9:45 am)**_

"Morning, Richi, Eon." Everyone greeted the two as they walked in and sat at the table.

"Ohayo, min'na." They said in unison. Janice and Raven both served the breakfast to everyone and cleaned up afterward once the meal was finished. Knuckles sat and stared at Shadow, who was looking at his sister mouthing something. It looked like she was saying "Black Doom" and "Mephiles."

He had an idea. Since Shadow wouldn't tell him anything about his past, he would search it up on Google and find out himself! He was a genius. He got out of his seat and went to his bedroom, leaving everyone wondering why he walked off suddenly. Sitting in his suitcase, was his laptop.

"Perfect," he grinned.

Hopping on his bed, he turned it on and opened up Google. The redhead typed in the search box 'Mephiles the Dark' and waited for the results. Hundreds of them popped up and he looked through them. Several of the results had news reports about a man named Mephiles destroying half of the city. Another few had him as a murder suspect, along with two others. They all looked related, though the other two had white hair and golden irises.

Other results like manholes and reptiles came up. What on earth do manholes and reptiles have to do with this? Knuckles surely didn't know, so he continued searching. He scrolled down the list of results until seeing one that really caught his eye.

"_**Murders All Leading to Three Prime Suspects"**_

In bold print was Mephiles' name, and he clicked on it.

_A Californian couple is found dead in their own kitchen with a large butcher knife by the counter. No fingerprints were traced and there is no sign of when they were killed. As of now, police are searching all areas of California, for the serial killer is still at large. A man calling himself Mephiles the Dark is one suspect. Other information cannot be given due to the chief's orders._

Knuckles' eyes widened a bit as he read more. He saw a few pictures of Mephiles and images continued to flood his mind of the one day. He sighed and continued his search for the thing called Black Doom. Twenty results popped up on his laptop screen. Nineteen of them contained nonsense.

While one caught his attention.

"_**Space Colony Ark Mission Shut Down Almost Six Decades Ago…"**_

Knuckles clicked on the title and the screen's background went dark. When the page was fully loaded, there were multiple pictures of what looked to be a giant aircraft in outer space. The redhead began to see pictures of the Ark in close-ups. There were photos of old blueprints.

_Almost sixty years ago, Professor Gerald Robotnik was sent into space along with granddaughter Maria Robotnik and several other scientist and GUN soldiers. The Professor was looking for a way to cure a disease his granddaughter had by creating immortal androids and transferring their strength to her. However, some unknown incident happened between the GUN commander and Robotnik, causing one of the bloodiest occurrences in American history. The reasons are unknown, but many lives were taken by GUN soldiers. Unfortunately, Maria Robotnik was shot down and the androids' whereabouts are still unknown to this day. Old texts from Gerald Robotnik's journal say that a certain mark–_

There was a picture of the mark. Knuckles felt he'd seen it somewhere before, but he couldn't remember.

–_meant that the person was indeed one of his androids, and it responded to one verbal command that wasn't mentioned in his journal, but the name of one of the androids (there were three in total) was mentioned as __**Project: Shadow. **__The journal stated that–_

"Boo,"

"!" Knuckles shouted, exited the window, and looked back up alertly to those sexy crimson eyes he seemed to always dream about. Shadow displayed an amused grin on his face and sat up on Knuckles' bed.

"I was here for five minutes but you didn't notice me walk in." the ebony haired teen laughed as his friend's face flushed. "So, what's up? You just left us hangin' there, bro." His tone changed.

"Oh, sorry…uh, I, uh, was thinking of something and came up to search it on my laptop. Heh," the redhead answered nervously.

"Uh-huh." Shadow pursed his lips. Knuckles stuttered with a small blush and Shadow laughed, standing up. "I'm downstairs if you need me. And Knuckles," Shadow was just about to walk out of the redhead's room, "If you wanted to know about my past, you could've just _asked _me."

Knuckles bit his lip and watched his crush leave, then lay back against his bed. He closed his now heavy lidded eyes and sighed.

_**Living Room (10:15 am)**_

Amy sighed, hugging on her legs in boredom. She blushed when she looked over at her blue-haired friend. He looked at her and smiled. She smiled back at him and Skyler looked at them. "I'm bored. Anybody wanna go swimming?"

"Y'all have a pool?" Amy asked Shade and the ebony haired teen nodded.

"It's in the back." Richard said.

"Cool. We should have a cookout!" Sonic grinned.

_**Backyard (1:35 pm)**_

The males stood outside and Sonic almost fainted. "Shitake mushrooms! This is amazing! Dude, you guys didn't tell me you had a paradise for a backyard! You have a basketball court, a pool, a snack shack, a sound system, _and _you live _near a cliff!" _he said and ran to the cliff and back, "This is _way_ past cool!"

His friends laughed at him and looked to the direction of the house. Silver posed a question, "Where are the girls?"

Skyler turned on the grills and set out the meat and answered, "They're taking their time gettin' all prettied up."

"Especially Shadle; she takes hours just _applying makeup_. _'Don't rush me, boy!' _is what she says to us when we tell it's time to go." Shadow imitated his sister with gay posture.

The guys laughed until they saw their female friends enter the backyard with their swimsuits. The whole backyard went quiet when they walked in.

Shadle looked at Sonic with an evil smirk and Sonic felt his heart flutter when he saw Amy Rose in the bikini she bought at the mall. His tongue was on the verge of hanging out as she closed his mouth for him. Shadow stared, mouth agape, at Rouge. She walked past him with a lustful look in her eyes. Indeed they were all a beau, including little Eon, but Shadow thought Rouge looked the sexiest. That's when his mind travelled back to Knuckles.

Skyler chuckled as the men followed behind the women. Richard followed close behind his teal headed friend, who was smiling at him as brightly as ever. Rouge and Shade walked by the sound system and the older one placed her nephew's iPod into the slot.

Music instantly blasted songs from the speakers around the area.

The men sat down at a table and Amy jumped into the pool with Richard and Eon.

Knuckles sighed and rubbed under his eyes. The deep, almost indigo irises trailed over to Shadow and then to Rouge, who, he thought, looked hotter than the Sahara desert. He blushed deeply and noticed a small heart tattoo on her hip, almost covered by her bikini bottom.

_Almost._

Then he blushed again, realizing exactly where he was looking at when she turned around to face Shade's direction. Shadow chuckled at him.

He came to his senses and looked up at him with a shrug. Hey, it was natural to look at a girl's ass, wasn't it? He sure thought so. Sonic looked at them and then at the pool water. He grinned and stood for a few moments. Just when he thought it was a perfect time, the blue blur whizzed over to Knuckles and Shadow, and pushed them straight into the pool waters.

Knuckles let out a gasp and a loud yell.

Shadow looked at him and grabbed his waist as a result. Knuckles felt two things.

**Something hot pressing against his groin**

**Something warm against his lips**

He blushed sixteen shades of red and pulled back as quickly as he could. Shadow just looked calmly back at him and held his friend's waist a little tighter. Shadow looked almost desperate, as if he wanted another kiss from the redhead's lips.

But, it really wasn't like a kiss. No, not at all. It was more like a teeth-on-teeth _accident _than anything else. But for a second, Knuckles could feel his mouth against Shadow's. Neither came to a realization that they need air until Knuckles was dragged by his ebony haired friend to the surface water.

Above them, Sonic had been laughing out his guts. They resurfaced, both of them growling at the blue haired teen standing on the wet ground. "Sonic!" They yelled in unison, wading in the water.

"You bastard! I almost drowned!" Knuckles still had a huge blush on his cheeks.

"Dumbass." Shadow growled, "I'ma get you back before the day's over. I'm gonna get you." He added.

"Oh, I'm _sooo _scared Shadow, I'm practically shittin' my trunks now." Sonic said sarcastically with an evil grin.

"You will be. Soon enough." Knuckles muttered underneath his breath. The redhead sat at the pool's edge and twisted his hair, trying to dry it. Shadow sat next to him and sighed, pulling his wet tank top over his head and ruffling his ebony hair.

Again Knuckles displayed a blush on his tanned cheeks when seeing his friend shirtless. Shadow was gorgeous, with the body of an angel. He wasn't as pale and skinny as before, maybe 'cause he'd eaten something after the no-food-for-a-month thing.

Now he was slightly tanned and gleaming in the sunlight. Water from earlier dribbled down his neck and near the center of his chest. Shadow turned back, chest muscles pushing out further, and shot Sonic an evil grin, giving Knuckles the opportunity to fully scan his ebony haired friend.

He looked thoroughly at Shadow, noticing the now unveiled eight packs he had his face on one time. His eyes travelled lower to the black swim trunks. Shadow turned back around and smiled at Knuckles, who immediately looked away from the swim trunks and smiled sheepishly. The redhead noticed something big and black on his chest, almost like a tattoo. He looked closely at the mark and remembered the article he read online about the immortal beings.

His hand wandered onto the mark, causing Shadow to look down at his hand and wonder what Knuckles was doing. "Oh, that. It's my birthmark. Kinda like the white crescent moon shape you have. This is mine."

"Oh," Knuckles said, sounding a tad bit astonished, removing his hand from Shadow's right breast.

Richard and Eon were in the water playing with Amy. "Oi, Sonic, come play Chicken with us!" Richi called him. Sonic was quick to shake his head and continue minding his business. That gave Knuckles and idea. He tapped Shadow's shoulder and whispered something in his ear. Shadow grinned and glared at his blue haired buddy. The both got up quietly and tiptoed by Sonic's side.

"What are they doing to him?" Eon asked Amy.

"Sonic hates water and swimming, so I'm guessing they're about to throw him in the pool to get back at him for pushing them in the pool." Amy giggled softly and watched as the two teens picked Sonic by the hands and feet and swung him over the water as he begged for mercy.

"Holy crap, holy crap, Shadow, Knuckles, stop! You know I'm scared of water! Stop it, guys!" He wailed in terror as the two put him down near the edge of the pool. He shiver madly and crawled back to his seat.

Everyone laughed at poor Sonic as he sat and shivered to death. He hadn't even been in the water and he was shivering!

"Poor Sonic; he has the fear of drowning." Richard chuckled.

"Lunch's ready, guys!" Skyler called from the grill and everyone rushed to get burgers and hot dogs.

"Yum, these fries are delicious!" Eon said, plopping three French fries in her mouth. Richard chewed on his burger and swallowed a big bite, slurping his drink and eating a fry. He had to agree with Eon, these fries were the bomb.

"Dude, Sky, who taught you how to cook?" Silver asked, about to get his second burger.

"I taught myself, actually. It kinda just came to me how to turn a stove on and make breakfast and macaroni. Haha." He chuckled.

_**After Lunch – Living Room (3:10)**_

Sonic sat on the couch and rubbed his enlarged tummy. He was on the verge of falling asleep, if not for Knuckles laughing at him burp and half snore. He resumed his original spot on _Richard's _couch and drifted off into sleep.

"Finally, some peace and quiet from the dumbass." Shadow sighed and lay back on the couch next to Knuckles and Rouge, who were slightly cuddling.

Shadow was tired and sleepy from earlier and decided to go take himself a shower to relax.

He was so tired that he almost fell asleep _in _the shower. The poor Ultimate Lifeform was tired and sleepy. He hadn't had a nap since last week, but it was only a ten minute nap, instead of his normal fort-five minutes to three hours nap.

He dressed himself and returned downstairs back to his original spot on the large couch. It was only Knuckles sitting there, as everyone had gone elsewhere. Shadow smiled softly and yawned, "I'm taking me a nap. Just ask if ya need anything." Shadow yawned again and closed his eyelids. Knuckles nodded softly and yawned himself. Before Shadow drifted off into his cloud nine mode, the redhead tapped him.

"Hey, Shadow, what are we training for?"

"Hm? Oh, we'll tell you all later at dinner." Shadow lay his head back on the couch and closed his eyes again.

"Hey, Shadow?" The redhead looked at him.

The teen's left eye opened once more in slight annoyance and looked at him, "Yeah?"

"Why don't you ever tell us anything?" Knuckles asked slowly, as if he were contemplating on whether to ask the question or not.

"Because, sometimes my siblings and I don't believe you guys are ready to know everything." Shadow answered, stifling another long yawn.

"Oh." He said blankly, watching as his friend rested his head on the couch again. He was sleepy as well.

"Sha-Shadow…" Knuckles once again pulled his friend away from sleep.

"What, Knuckles?" That came out more aggressive than expected, so Shadow asked again, but more softly, "What, Knuckles?"

"I-I, um, since you're about to fall asleep, and I'm tired too, can I just kinda lean on your chest or something?" he stuttered nervously.

This caught Shadow by surprise. Never had Knuckles asked to lean on his body. The man felt his cheeks warm up, "U-Uh, yeah…sure." He answered, and soon Knuckles' head was leaning on his chest as they both napped.

_**Richard's Room (4:30 pm)**_

"I wonder when we'll be going back to school…" Richi said aloud, Eon lay beside him, head on the white pillow.

"Who knows? I really don't wanna go back to school." She spoke, her voice a bit muffled.

"Why not? I thought you liked Mobius Middle." Richi said, rubbing the back of his neck. He looked at his teal haired friend and smirked faintly.

She looked up and smiled at him, "I do, but it's difficult being in seventh grade, and with all this conceited girls who start drama thinking they're better than anybody else." Of course, she was talking about the Quads. Especially, Brittania and her sister Tayloria.

Those two wreak havoc among the school, and always blame the eighth grader boys, who didn't do a thing. Alexane was the tough girl, who always beat up kids for lunch money if she forgot hers, which was almost every day. And Jade, the brain of them all. She was the one who got the best grades, and won the most awards. She would always tell Eon how stupid she was and how useless she was, and how she didn't deserve to have any friends, such as Richi.

"Ah, c'mon, E. It ain't that bad. At least they don't mess with you. If they did, Richi would beat them all up!" The vampire punched the air and flexed his biceps. Eon giggled at her friend and shook her head. At least she had a friend to back her up.

They laughed over silly school memories and continued to 'reminisce' about the past. That was until Eon asked something about him and Brittany, "Hey, Richi, are you going out with Brittany?"

Richi cocked an eyebrow, "No, what makes you think that?"

"I just thought that because of the way you were acting at the mall yesterday," she responded quietly, "And it made me think you two were secretly dating or something."

"Oh, that…No, we're just friends, nothin' serious. She always claims me as hers but she and I like to play with each other." He blushed slightly. Eon gave him a crazy look and he came to a realization, "Not like that, silly!" he blushed another shade of red, and his cheek were almost as red as his father's eyes.

"Oh, okay. For a second there…I was about to say…" Eon trailed off, looking at his friend with a grin. He shook his head silently and thought about that almost-kiss they shared in his lab. Somehow, since then, he could stop thinking about it and his eyes kept venturing towards her pale lips. She would smile at him.

Eon sat up in her white T-shirt saying, "I'm so excited for training tomorrow. I can't wait to learn now moves and tricks and stuff."

Richi couldn't help but laugh at Eon while she punched the air. He shook his head and shifted slightly, lying on his headboard and watching Eon closely.

"It's really fun sometimes, because the missions we go on to test our skills on the field are like going on scavenger hunts and going through mazes and all that." Richi said to her. Eon sat next to her shirtless friend and brought her knees to her chest.

"Wow…That seems awesome. I love scavenger hunts because sometimes you have to think outside the box to get the answer."

"Exactly." Richard looked up at the ceiling.

They looked at each other and smiled.

"Hey, maybe we should go downstairs and see what everyone's doing." Richi suggested. Eon agreed and they both walked to the bedroom door together. Before they left, Eon stopped Richi and looked at his face. He blushed.

She stood on her toes and kissed his full lips softly. They stood there for at least five seconds before Eon pulled back and ran off down to the elevator. Richi's cheeks tinted four shades of dark cherry. He placed one finger on his bottom lip and smiled, dashing after the girl, "Hey! Wait up, Eon!"

_**Living Room (5:01 pm)**_

Shadow woke up from his two hour nap and stretched his tired muscles. He looked down at his redheaded friend, who was holding onto him by the waist and resting his head on his chest. He looks cute when he sleeps; Shadow smiled faintly and rubbed Knuckles' head gently. The tired redhead didn't even move.

He heard footsteps coming from behind him as Eon zoomed past the couch. "Be careful, Eon," he called and Richi zoomed past him with a huge red tint on his cheeks.

That caused Knuckles to jolt up from his slumber.

"Evening, Knucklehead," Shadow smirked. The redhead's arms were still around Shadow's waist. Shadow looked down and Knuckles pulled away quickly with a lopsided grin. Shadow chuckled and stood up, "How did you sleep?"

Knuckles stretched and yawned, "Better than last night. You?"

"Eh, I've slept better." He smiled.

"Where is everyone?"

"My sister is cleaning her room, Sky is off meditating in his room, Sonic went to grab a chilidog with Amy, Silver and Blaze are in their room spending time together, Richi and Eon who just zoomed by a minute ago, your girlfriend–"

"We're not together anymore." Knuckles interrupted, red brows knitting together.

"Oh, well, _Rouge_ is in her room sleeping. And you're here alone with me." Shadow once again felt his cheeks getting hotter, but they still stayed their natural olive/ivory color.

"Heh, yeah." Knuckles blushed as well.

They watched TV in silence until Richi and Eon both came into the room panting, as if they just ran a marathon. Richi had a grin on his face once he sat down next to her. They laughed the tiredness off and Shadow just watched them closely.

He smiled when Eon smiled at him warmly. "Make sure you guys get some rest for tomorrow because we got work to do." Shadow sighed, satisfied by his nap.

"Yeah, we will." Richi nodded.

"I'm excited." Eon said.

"Me too. I'm gonna be teaching you."

"Really?"

"Yup." He grinned.

_**At Dinner (7:00 pm)**_

"Okay, so, what's training about?" Sonic asked suddenly, eager to hear the reasons.

Shadle froze and glanced at Shadow. He sighed, "Well, I promised Knuckles I'd tell everyone what going on since you were dying to hear it." Shadow rubbed his head.

Richard kept his eyes on his spaghetti bowl and didn't look up.

"So, you guys remember that fight we had in the city, battling those little monster lookin' things?"

"Yeah."

"Well, you remember the guy who was controlling him?" Sky asked, looking at everyone at the dinner table. They all began to nod silently, recalling the day.

"What's this gatta do with training, though?" Sonic asked impatiently.

"If you'd shut up and let them finish, you'll find the answer." Amy frowned.

He sighed and listened further. Skyler began to explain, "It was the boys' sixth birthday. We were happily celebrating when a man named Mephiles showed up to give us a big surprise."

"He unleashed the least of his power, sending me and Skyler flying away from our family by a big gust of wind. Nearby stood our deadly shadows, Exacalibur and Caliburn. I'm guessing they had already been planning this day out and we were already in the trap as soon as we sat down to eat and Rouge both ran after Mephiles while me and Skyler fought off our doppelgangers." Shadle said, letting her brother continue for her.

"Richi and Striker stood away from the fight, but Striker had been working on his techniques for quite some time and had been ready for a fight, even though he was only six. Mephiles had managedto stop me and Rouge for a short amount of time and Excalibur opened a portal to another dimension. Mephiles had a gun that held two bullets. He just stood there and grinned before pulling the trigger, not even caring about where it was heading."

Richard stepped in, "The bullet was heading straight for me, but Striker put up a force field. Unfortunately, the bullet broke straight through it. He tried holding it in the air for a few seconds, but it didn't work either. The bullet that was meant for me had struck my brother in his head." He muttered the story out and Shadle took her turn to talk again.

"Mephiles' last words before transporting back to his dimension were, 'We shall meet again, Shadow. You will be so overwhelmingly overpowered that you bow down at my feet and beg for mercy. And that day shall come even sooner than you think,' he said. The portal closed and he was gone."

"Striker-Dorian's funeral took place one week later…and that was the last time

we all saw him." Rouge wiped the small tears from her eyes.

Everyone was quiet for a moment until Shadow spoke, "Mephiles said he would return one day, and he did, which is why my siblings, Richi, and I need to stop him before he and his minions destroy the world. But, they've grown a lot stronger since we last met, and I know he's been working with Dr. Robotnik."

Sonic didn't even have to say anything; he already knew, "That means that there are surely going to be robots surrounding you. He might even bring out copies of us just for the fun of it."

"Exactly, Sonic. So we need your help to stop Eggman while we stop Mephiles. We all know we can't do this alone, so that's why we need you guys. We have to teach everything there is to know about Mephiles and our doppelgangers. You guys know more about Robotnik than we do, so we'll definitely need your help." Skyler said.

Sonic sat back and thought seriously. Amy smirked widely like never before, "Well, I know avenging Striker's death is definitely a priority for Richi, and I want to help him. I'm in, you guys!"

"I'm with Amy," Sonic decided, giving him a thumbs-up. Rouge smiled at everyone, "You know I'm with this."

"Us, too!" Silver and Blaze smiled.

Knuckles looked at Shadow, who was staring at him. He smirked, "You bet'cha."

"Eon's definitely in." She slapped Richi's hand with a huge smile.

"You guys are the best." The triplets said together.

"Hey, what are friends for?" Sonic shrugged confidently.

"But, are you guys sure you wanna do this?" Shadow asked everyone.

"Training isn't as easy as it looks. And we're not exactly the nicest trainers. Were pretty tough."

"We're sure we can handle you. And besides, if it helps save the world, that's an offer, we can't refuse." Tails looked at Sonic.

"Alright, then. Tomorrow's the day we begin training." Skyler said, cracking his knuckles, "Eat well, get a good shower in, and rest well. Oh, and make sure you stretch before you meet us in the simulator room." Skyler smiled.

"Oh, and tomorrow, we'll be deciding who your trainer will be, so you best be ready." Shadle warned.

They all nodded and continued eating their spaghetti. After dinner, everyone went their separate ways and went to bed. Before Shadow was about to hit the hay, there was a knock on his door. "Come in," he said, expecting to see Knuckles, but instead he saw Eon. "Oh, hey, Eon, what'cha need?"

"Uh, shadow, I need to ask you something."

"Ask away, Hun."

The girl shifted nervously and blushed, "I really like your son, but I'm not good with expressing my feelings, so what should I do?"

Shadow cocked his eyebrow instantly and thought aloud, "Oh, um…Heh. I'm so old, I forgot how I flattered his mother…Damn it, I can't remember. Just be yourself, I guess. Trying hard to flatter someone will gradually result in losing that person's love."

Eon nodded softly and her blush disappeared, "Thanks, Shadow,"

"No problem, Eon."

Eon left and passed by Richi's room. She knocked and the boy opened his door. "Oh, hi, E."

She blushed softly, "I just wanted to say goodnight to you."

"Oh, well, uh, goodnight, Eon." He waved. She hugged him and walked away. Richi managed to catch her by the arm and tug her back. She almost tripped but he caught her and helped her up. He pecked her cheek twice before letting her go, "See ya in the morning, Eon."

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

**A/N:**

**Wow, I really like how this chapter turned out, especially for Knux and Shadow in the pool (I'm sure everyone enjoyed that bit). Now you all know how Striker died and how Eon really feels for Richi (though we already knew she liked him). Mephiles, Excalibur, and Caliburn were explained a little bit more in this chapter.**

**Next chapter: **_**Training Begins! Find out who trains who and more on how Knuckles feels for Shadow!**_


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